


The magical world ザ・魔法の 世界

by Azamandus



Category: Original Work, Slice of life - Fandom, coming of age - Fandom, journey of discovery - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:47:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29824461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azamandus/pseuds/Azamandus
Relationships: Haruto - Relationship, honoka - Relationship





	1. Awakening

Chapter one: Awakening

For hundreds of years the magic world and the normal world have existed side by side but remained apart.The year I was born my mother had her fortune cast and found out my life was going to effect everything in our secret world, being a witch she and my father moved to the secluded village of Kitashiobara. My father opened a small convenience store in the village and they both tried to blend into village life,I was born in the spring of that year and grew to the age of 13 before I even found out about my magical heritage.

“Good morning sleepyhead, happy birthday!” I peeled an eyelid open and stared at the time on my bedside alarm clock. I could hear her coming up the stairs.”Mom it’s only 6 am on a Saturday, couldn’t you have let me sleep just a little longer?” I suddenly had the feeling I wasn’t alone in my room,and turned over to glare at the door,mom pushed the door open with a breakfast tray in her hands and let out a scream, the tray smashed to the floor and I scurried out of my futon to help her clean it up.”What’s wrong?” My question led to her turning me around to reveal what had made her so excited.

Sitting at the foot of my futon was a black cat. I had no idea how the cat had gotten into my room but it looked exactly like moms old black tom cat Fuku.”I was afraid of that, I guess with a familiar showing up,that turning 13 is going to be an exciting year for you Honoka, you should go over and greet her.” Mom finished cleaning up the breakfast tray, and I slowly approached the strange cat. I reached out a hand and started to pet her.*Behind my ears please.* My mouth fell open had I just heard the cat speaking to me, but I did as the voice asked and was rewarded by a deep pleasant purr.* I am called Haru, I am to be your familiar, I’m happy to be serving a witch who is going to effect the magical world as it has been foretold you will.* I stared at my mom then pointed at Haru.”The cats talking to me!”

“Your father and I knew this might happen one day, I hoped you would be a normal girl, but with a familiar appearing I am forced to reveal our family secret.” That morning I was introduced to the magical world,I followed mom downstairs and we sat at the kitchen table. Fuku came strolling in from the front room and sat beside my mom.*So Aoi, looks like your daughters a witch after all.* *Greetings Senpai.* Haru had followed us down from my room and had sat next to me on the floor. Fuku regarded Haru with one of his glares and jumped into my mothers lap.* I do have a rank you know,what are they teaching familiars today!* He groused, my mother began scratching behind his tattered ears and he quieted.”Mind your manners Fuku can’t you see shes still very young, don’t mind Fuku,he gets grumpy in the morning.”

“Now then, I should really start at the beginning. You see Honoka most of the women in our family have been witches, and unlike the fairytales you’ve read we aren’t bad people, well most of us aren’t, there are always some bad apples in the bunch that seek to profit off the pain of others. We’ll talk about them later, right now I want to show you what being a witch is all about.” My mother reached into the pocket on her apron and pulled out a twisted branch, she drew back the rug on the kitchen floor and spoke some words I couldn’t understand while waving the branch over the revealed spot on the floor,I heard a whooshing sound and a trap door appeared in the floor.I followed mom down the rickety ladder. She spoke another word, and the room lit with a blue light.“This is my sanctum, a witch requires one to create and accumulate knowledge of the magical world in Honoka.” I stared around me and it looked like a flea market full of all kinds of weird things. Fuku ran over and jumped up on a rumpled old pillow sitting on a book shelf.”For now until you finish your apprenticeship with me,this will be your sanctum to my dear, feel free to ask me anything.” “Do witches really create love potions?” Fuku started laughing,and I could hear Haru’s long sigh.My mothers face turned bright red, she sat me down in a chair beside her work table.”Yes Honoka we can make love potions but that is a very delicate operation,if you begin messing with peoples emotions you can cause them unbelievable pain and suffering unintentionally, we will get to potion making but first you will have to learn the magic language so you will be able to harness the power of your magic.”

My mother went to the dusty book shelf and brought me a tattered old book, on the cover was a magic circle, she handed it to me and my hair stood on end when she placed it in my hands.”Oh dear me, seems you have a real affinity for magic sweety, just open the book to the first page, it will instruct you in the magic language.” I felt like electricity was running through my body as I cracked the cover open,a surge of magical power overwhelmed my senses and I fell unconscious to the sanctum floor. I woke to a soft tongue on my face from Haru and my mother standing over me with tears in her eyes, hysterically dialing emergency services.* Aoi stop! Honoka is ok, she just opened her eyes!* My mother threw her phone down and knelt down to fold me in her arms.”Oh dear you stopped breathing,I thought for sure we would need to call an ambulance,you scared me child what happened?”

“The last thing I remember was a powerful surge,and I blacked out.” My mom started wringing her hands as I sat up. I looked around and I could understand all of the strange writing that had looked like obscure scribbles before.My mother helped me up and summoned her broom.”I don’t understand what’s going on but I am taking you to the doctor right now,maybe he can determine exactly what’s happening to you.” We went back up the rickety ladder and out the back door.”Since this is your first time flying,make sure you hold on tightly Honoka,I won’t go very fast.” My mother put the broom between her thighs and I straddled it behind her, I thought we looked silly until she told the broom to take off. 

We surged up off the ground and flew towards the surrounding mountains, my mouth hung open as we sailed over the treetops.”Can I have a broom mom?” I heard my mother laugh and she nodded her head.”You will have to craft yourself one Honoka, a witch creates her own tools,and equipment I’ll teach you how to make your first broom when we get home alright?” I smiled and held on tightly as we weaved our way through the trees to our destination.”Hey mom can people see us when we are up here?” She shook her head no.”I’ll teach you the hiding spell as soon as your ready to fly,until then let’s get you started on making your broom,now here we are.” We descended and came to rest in front of a dark cave opening, the area around the cave entrance smelled like a hospital.”What are we doing way up here in the mountains?” 

Mom smiled and pointed to the cave entrance.”A helpful Kami of health and wisdom lives in this cave, let’s go in.” I followed her inside and soon found a softly glowing door. Mom went to the strange door and bowed twice,clapped twice and bowed once more, the door flew open and we were sucked inside the kami’s dimension. I sat there in amazement as I was whisked into a waiting chair. A kappa climbed from a pool in the corner and asked my mother what the visit was for,I stared at the walls and saw swirling lights dancing across the walls surface that looked like fireflies.”I need to speak to him about my daughters powers,I’m uncertain of what’s been happening to her,her magic as a witch seems much to powerful for a girl so young.” The Kappa held out it’s hand and my mother reached into her purse,she whispered some magical words and several fine cucumbers appeared in her left hand.She handed them to the kappa and it retreated to it’s pool,several minutes passed and a tanuki appeared, it transformed into a beautiful woman and told us the doctor would see us now.

My mother and I were once again whisked away, and arrived at another glowing door,mother performed the same ritual and we were admitted into the doctors office.”Aio it’s good to see you again, it’s been ages since you came to visit me,and who do we have here?” My mother explained who I was and explained why we had come.”Ah I see, well then come sit on the examining table and let me take a closer look at you.” I did as I was told and he rummaged in an old trunk for about a minute then came back with a large blue crystal of some kind, I stared as he put the crystal on top of my head then started to incant magical words,his misty limbs moved in unison with his chant then I saw the glow of blue light appear over my head, it sent swirling patterns through the room.

“My word now that is astonishing, Aio you must be very careful in your training of Honoka, I haven’t seen a witch with this sort of magical ability in oh at least the last five hundred years or so,tell me what day was she born on?” My mother smiled and told him I’d been born on this date 13 years ago. The spirit went back to rummaging in his large chest then extracted an old star chart. He spent several minutes pouring over the chart then whistled.”It seems your daughter has a very powerful prophecy entwined in her destiny Aio, weren’t you warned about that when she was born?” My mother bowed her head as if in shame.”My husband and I fled the city after we found out she might be the one foretold, we came to this area to keep her well away from those who might use her against humanity.”

“I see, well she’s quite healthy, but make sure during her training you take things very slowly,I have a feeling her power in the magical world will soon have her involved in the balance if she likes it or not.” My mother thanked the Kami for his timely advice and we headed back home,on the flight back my mom started telling me more about the magic world and the normal world that existed beside each other and how the forces balanced one another, that balance had been made over five centuries before when the circle of witches and Sorcerers had brought about the grand divide spell. At that time the two worlds had been joined as one,then the spell was cast and the things that dwelt on the magic side were sent to the hidden magical world.

That world was still connected to this world and there were still ways for the beings on the other side to cross into the normal world, but it had become much harder for magical things to get here now. “Why don’t you head over to the store and see about stocking the front counter for your dad while I get out my old broom making manual for you to read.” I smiled as we came in for a landing in the backyard,and jumped off to go help my dad out in the store. It was the first day of spring break and I was looking forward to spending some time with my friends.”Ah good morning Honoka,you here to help me fill the pastry counter and make the morning coffees and teas?” I nodded at my dad and headed to the small kitchen area to start filling the coffee and tea pots.

“We got five cases of pastry and donuts from the bakers this morning,if you see anything you want grab one for yourself, is your mother coming over anytime soon,I could really use some help on the register this morning looks like that construction crew is getting started on the new school down the street today,already had a few come in to get things,and I need to get the delivery when the grocery truck arrives.” I hollered back that as soon as I was done stocking the breakfast counter I’d head back across the street and tell mom she was needed in the store.I finished filling the pastry tray just as the door chime rang. I turned just in time to spot Haruto and  
his friend Riku come walking in carrying fishing poles.

I ducked behind the counter and motioned to my dad,that he had customers.Dad grinned at me behind the counter hiding and made duck lips at me,I could feel my face getting red as he made his way to the counter to serve the guys standing there.”Is Honoka around Riku and I are going up to the river to fish for char,I thought she might want to come with us if she wasn’t busy.” I made shooing gestures at my dad and started praying he didn’t give away my hiding place behind the counter.”Looks like you just missed her boys,I’ll tell her you stopped by,maybe later she’ll catch up with you at the river,that’ll be ¥1,250 for the bait,snacks and sodas.” My dad rang them up and I sighed a long sigh, as I peered over the ledge of the front window and watched them walk away.

“So, how long are you going to play hide and seek with Haruto, he seems like a really nice young man, didn’t you say you liked him a few weeks ago?” I must have turned a bright shade of red when he said I liked Takahashi Haruto but my dad just started laughing.”Go and get your mother, you look like a radish.” I scrambled out the door and right past the delivery truck driver as he was heading into the store.”Excuse me.” I stammered and ran across the road and straight into the house, I slammed the door shut behind me and was breathing hard as my mom came out of the kitchen.”My goodness, what’s wrong Honoka?”

I explained what had just happened at the store and my mother started to giggle at my predicament.”Honoka dear your just growing up, I still remember my first crush.” I put my hands over my ears and started shouting.”I don’t want to hear it mom!” She put her sweater on and headed over to the store handing me the broom crafting book as she left.”Here this should do you some good,go ahead and read that, and when I come back we’ll get you started.” I took the book and headed upstairs to my room. Haru jumped up on the end of my desk and started licking her front paws.*So do you really like that Haruto boy?* I stopped reading and stared at my new familiar.”Ok so it seems like we need to talk,yes I do like him,but I get so nervous around him,when he’s around me, I start to turn red as soon as he speaks to me.” *If you like him, you should tell him you like him, humans are so silly about relationships.* I glared at the cat.”You know I thought you were supposed to help me out,how does telling me I should...I can ah for damnations sake! Now you’ve gone and gotten me thinking about just talking to him!” *Well you do have some very serious advantages over the normal girl, witches by their very natures attract men,if he’s expressed an interest in you that’s likely what happened to him,young witches can be such flirts.* I stared in utter disbelief at the words that had come out of my new familiars mouth then dove on my futon and buried my head under the pillow.

My mom came back after the morning rush and found me still hiding under my pillow.”What’s wrong now?” Her words brought me out from under the pillow. “Haru said that all witches have the power to attract men, is that true?” My mom glared at Haru who was curled on the end of my desk.”Someone has been telling secrets best left till someone turns 18, I’ll have none of your shenanigans MS Haru, from now on you clear relationship advice through me first understood?” Haru looked up and nodded at my mother.”Alright then what Haru says is true,witches can attract men,it’s just part of our magical nature,and charm,though some witches use that fact to cause serious heartbreak, but you don’t have to worry about that right now, I’m more concerned with you and this Haruto boy,now tell me honestly do you really like him?”

My face started turning red but my mom reached out and took my hands in hers.”I can see by your reaction you have real feelings for this boy,now then let’s fix the problem you’ve been having with talking to him.” My mom took me down to her sanctum and we worked for several hours until dinner time on a friendship charm,she explained that if I wore the charm I’d never have any more trouble talking to Haruto again. I scrambled up the ladder ahead of mom and started to help her to get dinner ready,dad came home an hour later for dinner then sat in the living room to relax before he went back to close the store at 7pm. Fuku came out from his usual sunning spot in the upstairs window followed by Haru, he slipped over to his bowl and meowed.

I got up and went to the cupboard to get him his dinner and stopped as Haru jumped up on my shoulder.*Why is senpai acting like a cat?* I nearly strangled her.”Shut up my dads in the livingroom relaxing before he has to go back to the store and closes up,before today I never even knew Fuku was anything more then my moms cat!” She closed her mouth and jumped down to wait on her dinner.I got a second bowl down and placed it next to Fuku’s he stared at the younger familiar and glared at me. I got the impression he really didn’t like Haru for some unknown reason,but they were going to have to make the best of it.After dinner I went and got the broom making book dad came back not long after and sat down to watch some TV, I could see Haru creeping up behind him and making for his hanging socks where he’d thrown them on the end of the couch. Mayhem looked like it was about to ensue


	2. The Spring festival

The next week was the Spring festival, I’d been studying to be a witch so hard I hadn’t had any time to spend with my friends,my first attempt at broom making had been keeping most of my attention.”That’s right Honoka, your doing great,make sure you scribe the binding spell around the entire broom handle,once your finished with that meet me in the backyard and we’ll see about catching a zephyr for your broom.” I dipped my pen in the thick black ink mom had given me to inscribe the spell, and finished a few minutes after mom went upstairs. I took my finished broom and climbed the rickety ladder up into the kitchen.

I climbed out then turned to remember how mom had shown me how to do the open and close spell,the hand gestures were more effective with a wand but in a pinch you could just use your finger, I pointed my finger at the opening and recited the spell to close the trapdoor, I smiled as I watched the door disappear. I headed out back and found my mom sitting in her usual spot under the large maple tree in the backyard.”I heard you in there casting the close spell,were you able to close the trapdoor?” I beamed at my mom and she started grinning.”I see, well casting spells doesn’t seem to be a problem,and your broom looks like it’s perfect,lets see if we can’t attract a zephyr wind to come live in your broom shall we?” 

I handed my mom the broom to look over one last time before I attempted to summon the zephyr wind that would come live in my new broom. Mom flexed the broom straws,she checked the inscription work of the spell,and finally handed it back to me.”You’ve done a fabulous job for your first broom, now here, hold it up in the air over your head broom straws up, now recite the spell we worked on the other night.” I felt excitement running through me,I could feel the power of the spell coming to life as I recited the words to summon a zephyr, the playful wind danced around me when it appeared,I could feel it looking at the broom I had created and with a surge it finally entered the broom.

“I did it!” My shout woke Fuku who had been sleeping next to my mothers lawn chair, he opened one eye,stuck out his tongue and rolled over to go back to his nap.”Well then, now that you’ve got your first broom,it’s time I taught you the hiding spell, whenever you go flying you must remember to always cast this spell, people in the normal world just don’t understand about us and this way no one’s bothered by what we do.” I watched her closely as she taught me the spell that would basically put up an ignore me field around my broom when I went flying. I thought I had the gestures down and held my hand over my broom, the words came easy to my lips and mom explained that unlike a true invisibility spell which was much harder to cast,this spell just made peoples eyes turn away from seeing me.

Mom stopped suddenly and seemed to concentrate.”Well it looks like you have a visitor coming to the front door,why don’t you go let them in and I’ll get some refreshments and bring them out here for you to share.” Just then the front doorbell rang and my mom started smiling. I ran inside and went to open the door,when I did Takahashi Haruto was standing there, I swallowed my mouth felt dry,and my heart started racing.”Good morning Honoka chan, is it alright if I come in, I have something to ask you.” I nodded stupidly and grabbed him by the hand,my brain was melting down as I took him out back to the picnic table where my family had our bar-b-ques. “You...you have something you want to ask me?” I stammered as we sat down. He smiled and I could see his cheeks turning a slight tinge of red as he turned to me.”The spring cherry blossom festival is the day after tomorrow,I was wondering if you would like to go with me to the festival Honoka chan?” My heart started pounding in my chest,Takahashi Haruto was sitting in my backyard and had just asked me to go to the Spring cherry blossom festival with him. Just then my mom came out with a plate of mochi and a pot of tea.

“I see your guest looks to be having a slight bit of trouble talking to you Honoka, aren’t you going to give him an answer?” I thought I was going to die. I could feel his warm breath on my face he was that close to me.”I...uh...yes I’ll go with you to the Cherry blossom festival.” I sat there amazed at myself,I’d overcome my fear of talking to him,then I remembered the charm in the pocket of my apron and smiled at my mom. We both sat close together eating the snack mom had brought after a short while he cleared his throat and excused himself.”I’ll...uh pick you up at 7PM then thank your mom for the snack, I’d best be going promised my dad I’d help him with loading lumber orders today, see you then Honoka chan.” And with that he was was gone.

I felt like I was floating on clouds, the cutest boy in school had just asked me to go out with him, then it hit me, he had asked me to go out with him,together, my heart started hammering again,I had said yes to my first date with Takahashi Haruto. I ran into the house,my heart hammering in my chest and screamed.”Mom I have a date!” She turned from making dad some lunch and grinned at me.”Why yes I do believe you do,now then have you got something you want to wear on your date?” I flopped down in the kitchen chair and stared dumbly at her.”Uh… I...uh mom I don’t have a clue what to wear,can you help me please!” My mom smiled and put her arm around my shoulders.”Go to my closet in my bedroom,take the stool from the hall closet with you and bring me the box on the top shelf.”

I did as I was told and brought the box back to my mom.”Now that brings back memories,go ahead and open it Honoka and try it on,I’ll be right back going to take your father his lunch.” Mom took the lunch basket and headed out, I opened the lid of the box and stared into it,reaching in my fingers touched a soft cotton yukata, it was pale pink in color with beautiful delicate red cherry blossoms embroidered on it.I pulled it out of the box and held it up to me,I could picture myself wearing it, but when I tried it on it was way to long for me. Mom came back from taking dad his lunch and clapped her hands when she saw me standing there as she came in.”Well I’ll go and get my sewing kit, let’s get this shortened so you don’t trip on it while walking at the festival.” I stood there as mom pinned the yukata to the right length,then had me twirl around to see if it was evenly stitched.

“Well I’m glad my old yukata is still useful, but it needs something, ah yes go to my dresser and bring me the jewelry box,I have just the thing to finish this with.” I brought my mom the box,she reached in and pulled out a pale pink hair ribbon.”Here you go Honoka, turn around and let me help you put this on.” I turned and she tied it on, I went to the hall and stared at myself in the full length mirror, my mom came up behind me and put her arms around me.”You look beautiful Honoka.” She whispered in my ear. I started crying and my mom wiped my tears away with her handkerchief.”Now then go take that off and we’ll head over to the store, your father is going to need our help this afternoon, he’s expecting a large delivery of items for summer.”

I spent the afternoon helping my mom in the store as dad offloaded all sorts of items into the storage building we had behind the store. The delivery truck driver came in and got a large soda from the fountain dispenser and bought a sandwich from the counter where mom was working,I must have been letting my mind wander, because I never noticed the four figures coming in the door.”Hey Honoka chan!” I looked up and saw Haruto coming in with Riku and Riku’s twin sisters Himari and Akari Riku started laughing when Haruto called my name.”Wow Haruto you actually got a girlfriend, I thought you were lying when you told me you’d finally gotten the clam to speak to you.” Riku’s comment made me blush to my hairline.

“Well what’s your excuse for not finding a girlfriend then Nakamura Riku?” My mom had fired off at his rude comment. Riku started turning different shades of red as he stammered at that,his sisters started giggling then they both slapped him on the back at the same time. Our younger brother still thinks girls are yucky.” They said in unison, Riku was a year younger then us and ran for the door. I started to laugh at what my two best friends had just done to their younger brother, when Haruto stepped to the counter where I was working.”I’ll have one of those big Wanpaku sandwiches and a small soda.” My hands started shaking as I put together his order,and got him a small cola, I handed him his order and my hand touched his, I could feel my face turning red.

Mom saved me by ringing his order up.”That’ll be ¥520 Haruto,are you planning on going as a group to the festival?” Haruto turned his attention to my mom and I retreated to the backroom to cool down. Himari and Akari followed me into the backroom.”So Honoka come on tell us,is it exciting being Haruto Kuns girlfriend?” Himari’s question made me blush even more.”I...I guess so, I’m still trying to get a handle on this boyfriend girlfriend thing, aren’t you Seiji’s girlfriend?” Seiji was my first cousin on my dads side of the family, they lived up the road from us and ran a small farm growing vegetables. My aunt always brought us pickled vegetables she had grown and mom sent her sweets from the store in return. I talked with my friends for a while then went back to work.Over the next two days I worked really hard on walking in the yukata, mom took to laughing when I inevitably tripped and fell over the long trailing yukata, then she would help me up. ”Honoka just glide your way across the ground,you don’t have to concentrate so hard on walking.” I finally got it the afternoon of the festival.Mom came in and smiled at me dad was sitting in his big easy chair taking a day off, he had plans to take my mom out to dinner and they had spent the day just spending time together,my dad was always working so that had gotten me suspicious about what the two of them were up to.

Right at 7PM on the dot a knock came on the front door,dad got up from his chair and went to answer it. My stomach was doing flipflops as he opened it. Haruto was standing there with a bouquet of Tsubaki flowers in his hands.”Honoka looks like someone’s here to see you.” Haruto grinned at my dad. I walked out of the kitchen and turned to watch his eyes light up as I came into view. We stared at each other until my mom took the flowers from him.”I’ll put these in some water and put them on your desk sweety, why don’t you two get going you shouldn’t be late for your first ever date.” I turned my eyes to her smiling face and gulped,Haruto took my hand and led me out the door,I felt like I was drifting through a dream.

We met up with Himari and Akari being followed by their younger brother Riku,who was making himself a real pain in the ass,teasing his older sister until Seiji turned and told the annoying brat to shut his stupid mouth. Haruto put my hand through his arm and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “What do you want to eat tonight? I heard this afternoon that the yakisoba stall was really good this year.” His breath on my ear had me turning red I was sure but his warm hand holding mine made me feel safe.I leaned towards him as we walked behind the others making our way to the festival grounds.”I think I’d like Yakisoba,do you think we could get some cotton candy after that?” He smiled and nodded I felt a bit calmer as we finally got to the festival grounds,the lights and the sounds coming out, made all of us get excited.

Haruto and I separated from the other’s as we headed to the yakisoba stall,they were heading to the spookhouse,I saw Himari holding tightly to Seiji’s arm I had a feeling she had plans for him that evening. I turned from the yakisoba stall and just about ran into my mom and dad who had come strolling up behind us. I stared at them and the pieces started dropping into place my mom and dad were going to be nearby watching as I went on my date. I was getting ready to start questioning what they were doing there, when mom waved her wand and they transformed into two older teenagers,my mouth dropped open as Haruto turned to join me from the counter. He rejoined me and we walked to the tables. My mom and dad bought yakisoba as well and sat at a table at the other end of the area.”Do you like being out with me?” I turned from staring at my young mom and dad and caught the end of what he had said. His smile seemed to cover his whole face. “I think everything's going fine,uh...what did you want to do after we get cotton candy?” He started telling me about the rides he wanted to go on with me, we finished and started strolling through the stalls looking for the cotton candy stall,when we finally found it Himari and Seiji were in the shadows of the stall,she was in his arms being held tightly their lips were pressed together in a very hot kiss,I turned my head away and felt my face redden.

Haruto guided me to the roller coaster, the crowd around it were excitedly talking to each other about how exciting it was,I climbed into the car next to Haruto and we started up the long incline. The clicking of the gears suddenly stopped,I reached for him as his arm went around me,the plunge down from the top sent a thrill through my body I could feel the vibrations of the track as we rocketed down,and Haruto’s warm arm around me. “You okay Honoka chan?” I nodded dumbly at him and looked to his strong arm around my shoulders.”Do you want to be my girlfriend Honoka chan?” His question stunned me, I could feel his warm arm around my shoulders and I felt safe with his arm around me.I whispered back that I would like being his girlfriend very much. We went on several more rides then took a short break to get something to drink,at the drink stall we spotted Himari and Seiji again. She was moaning about a hickey Seiji had put on her neck, I quickly pulled Haruto away from those two, I never knew my cousin was such a hentai  
We almost escaped before I heard”Well the one you put on my neck is turning black and blue I think.” I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at Himari just as Akari and Riku walked up. “Wow sis, mom’s going to throw a fit when she sees that thing on your neck!” I stared and nodded along with Akari’s statement.

The three siblings started arguing with Seiji in the middle and started to make a scene. I dragged Haruto away not wanting to get involved any further in what they were up to.”So  
that sounds bad, I can’t believe what those two were up to.” I grinned,his hand felt nice in mine. “Want to go on the Ferris wheel?” I smiled at him and nodded, we headed to the huge Ferris wheel on the far side of the festival. We passed by my mom and dad,it looked like dad had no idea he had a spell cast on him,he was throwing baseballs at a target,it looked like he was trying to win a prize for my mom,I nodded as we strolled past and mom smiled back and gave me a thumbs up. I giggled at that and Haruto started telling me about the new school we would be going to soon.

I heard the announcer over the loudspeaker announcing that the fireworks were about to begin. Haruto stopped to talk to the ride operator and I stood waiting to get on the ride. We rode to the top and the flash of the fireworks display started, Haruto got up from his seat when the ride stopped and sat down beside me, I could feel his warm breath on my face as he reached out to hold me, it felt right I put my head on his shoulder just as a huge burst of bright blue and red lit up the sky. Haruto’s lips found mine as that burst of light filled the sky, I felt light headed as our lips came together,and felt his hand softly caress the side of my face.

I floated home that evening, it felt like I was living in a dream as Haruto guided me back to my door.Mom and dad walked up behind us and I watched mom wave her wand a second time that evening my folks had returned to their older forms,mom was clutching a large teddy bear in the crook of her arm and dad was holding her hand.”Excuse us old people we’ll be inside when your ready to come inside Honoka dear did your date go ok?” I turned staring at my mom,her face had a huge smile plastered across it and it matched dads.”I asked Honoka to be my girlfriend tonight.” Haruto’s bold statement sent me into shock I new my brain was going to melt down,but he wasn’t through making my head explode he leaned in and softly kissed me for a second time that evening,my mom and dad started smiling like two fools and I nearly died of embarrassment.

Haruto left after he kissed me,and I was able to recover enough to tell him I would see him tomorrow. He laughed and told me he was going fishing with the guys in the morning and if I wanted to go I was welcome to go,but they were going to be heading out real early.I hollered back that I’d bring lunch. I watched him until he disappeared around the corner of our street.I stepped inside and my mom was waiting.”So did your first kiss feel like you expected it to?” I ran to my mom and squeezed her tight.”I felt like I was floating mom is that how love feels?”My mom tousled my hair and kissed the top of my head.”That’s exactly what love feels like my girl,now I heard you telling Haruto you would bring lunch tomorrow,need help with that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://open.spotify.com/track/2GEQmnLNWdbMF2NAd3ub1c?si=uYUscY-eQg6-d062EgPMYw


	3. Growing up

Over the next five years I went through the trials and tribulations every teenager does, the good times the bad times, and the absolutely strange times.My powers as a witch kept pace with me. Mom had just finished my training and I was about to graduate from High school,my relationship with Haruto had matured,we were seeing each other on a regular basis and our lives seemed to be going along perfectly. I had no idea my entire life was about to get turned upside down.I’d been applying for colleges and intended to go to the same college Haruto was going to try getting into, we’d discussed even moving in together when we went off to university.

That morning two days after I graduated high school I woke to Haru tapping my face with her paw.”Oh come on you miserable beast, couldn’t you have let me sleep just a little longer, it’s the start of summer after all!” Haru sat back on the side of my futon and simply pointed her paw to the crow that was sitting on my windowsill. Crows were used as messengers by witches and sorcerers. I climbed out of bed and went to the window, clutched in it’s claws was a neatly sealed envelope addressed to me. I reached out and took the letter from the crow and thanked him for his hard work, he cawed once and flapped away.*Hmmm who could be sending you mail?* I shook my head at my familiar and broke the wax seal on the envelope.

A pink mist issued out of it, and a official looking document materialized floating at eye level in front of my face. I quickly read through it,my excitement climbed as I read it was an acceptance letter to Yōkai University of Magic and Alchemy. I ran downstairs my heart was pounding in my chest mom stood in the kitchen making my dad his breakfast.”Mom I got accepted to Yōkai U!” My howl woke Fuku who had been asleep on my moms chair in the kitchen, he peeled an eyelid open and actually smiled at me.”I don’t remember applying to the school,how did I get an acceptance letter if I didn’t apply?” “Oh my, well just being born a witch qualifies you for enrollment,but no one in our family has ever gone to Yōkai university,you’ll be the first ever.”

I stopped suddenly and glanced over at my dad,mom and I usually kept quiet about our witchy stuff around dad,but he was only smiling at me when I turned to look.”Honoka I’m proud of you,what do you think Fuku? Think she has a chance at some fancy witches school?” Fuku turned over and stretched,then looked straight at my dad and told him.*I think she’s got the potential for sure.*My mother and I stood there in shock, Fuku usually kept quiet even though dad knew about witches and all, we tried to limit his involvement with the magical world as much as possible.”Dear are you ok with her going to the university then?” Mom seemed just a bit nervous but was covering pretty well.I sat down and Haru jumped up in my lap.

* Your dad doesn’t mind us talking,in fact we’ve had some rather long conversations about you on occasion.* I stared dumbly at my familiar,were we just letting all of the cats out of the bag today.”Really what have you been telling him?” I forgot to curb my tongue,something had been bothering me about how dad seemed to know more about my life outside of home then was normal. “It was you! You’ve been spying on me!” I glared at Haru, her tongue stuck out at me and she started to giggle.*Well he does pay well for the information, in fresh fish.* My face must have turned red, but dad just started laughing,soon mom was laughing and I couldn’t resist. “Well it looks like we’ve been certainly taken in the both of us Honoka, but I’m sure your father had his reasons,for doing what he did,probably he was as worried about you as I was,until I knew you had your powers well under control.” I sat there thinking about that,then turned to see my dad nodding to what my mom was saying. He noticed and went on to explain.”Honoka after we found out you were a witch, I had some grave misgivings about it,the fortune your mother had cast when you were born,came back to me and I started worrying more and more about you,Haru and I came to an agreement when you graduated middle school that if you did anything dangerous she would report to me about it,though sometimes I think she was just looking to get you into trouble.”

My familiar did have a very mischievous nature sometimes,and a true gluttons appreciation of fresh fish.”We’ll talk later about that, Ms Haru!” My statement to her laid her ears down I knew she knew I still wasn’t happy about her having spied on me for years.Just as I finished my breakfast my cellphone rang, Mom and dad had gone over to work in the store. Haru jumped up and told me it was Haruto calling. I scrambled for the phone,dropping my plate in the sink as I sprang to answer.”Good morning Honoka chan my dad gave me the day off and since it’s the weekend, I thought we could go up to the cabin and spend some time together,maybe do some fishing and take a hike up the mountain.” 

My head started spinning, he was asking me to go away with him for an entire weekend,just the two of us,my thoughts quickly turned to what might happen and I just blurted.Yes,and hung up on him,my brain was in a state of serious melt down we’d talked about sex,but things had always worked against us. I knew Haruto was the one for me,I’d known for a long time he was the kind of man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I gathered my wits and ran across the road to the store bursting in my mom glanced up at me from the register and raised her eyebrows.”Is something wrong Honoka?” “I...mom...he...he asked me to go away with him for the weekend!” I blurted. Just then noticing old lady Shimizu pawing through the sweet aisle.

The old bat was a known busybody, she liked to holler at children and was a terrible gossip at the local pachinko parlor in town. I felt like I was about to explode when my phone rang again. stupidly I opened it and answered right in front of the old bat. It was Haruto calling back,his voice sounded astonished.”When did you want me to come pick you up?” I could almost see the old bats ears growing larger as I started to sweat.”Pi...pi...pick me up!” My heart started pounding,I could feel the old bats ears listening intently,then she let out a cackle of glee and found the bag of chocolates she’d been searching for,she elbowed past me and scurried to the counter with her prize,my emotional stability was in turmoil. 

I answered,”I need to pack a suitcase,I guess…” I stared dumbly at my phone as he hung up, the worst gossip in the village had just overheard my entire conversation,I was sure she was going to blab it all over the village about my weekend plans.”Oh Aio,my hearing aid batteries have died again,can you fix me up with a fresh pack of batteries while your at it?” I sighed a long sigh of relief,at my good fortune and helped her to her car with her groceries. When I got back inside my mom was grinning at me.”Shouldn’t you be home packing,I’m sure Haruto is on his way already.” I dashed back across the road and ran up the stairs to my room, hauling the suitcase out, I started throwing things into it, till it was full. Not even bothering to look what I was grabbing, then slammed it shut, just in time to hear Haruto drive up.*Can I come along?* I glared down at Haru, and shook my head no.”You’re a spy and a glutton,maybe you should think about that over the weekend till I get back.” She looked surly but jumped up on my desk and just glared at me till I headed downstairs,I met Haruto as I opened the door,nearly bumping into him in my haste to get to the car.

“Slow down Honoka love,the mountain isn’t going anywhere.” His words sent my heart into flutter mode,I could feel butterflies in my stomach trying to fly out.”Haruto Kun sorry to keep you waiting...I…” He reached for my case and kissed me on the cheek. His other hand took mine and I followed him to the car. It took me several minutes to recover,but when I did his hand was in mine across the car seat. The drive took us about an hour, and I finally was able to talk about the weekend he had planned.”Well plan on doing some fishing, and the hike we talked about but it’s up to you what else you want to do babe.”

We finally got to his parents cabin and started to unload the car, Haruto opened the trunk and handed me the keys to the cabin.”Go ahead and get the door open I’ll get the cooler of food brought in then come back out for the rest of the gear and my suitcase.” I grabbed my suitcase out of the back of the car,and went to unlock the cabin,pushing the door open I was amazed by how nice it was,it had a small kitchen with a gas stove and a single electrical outlet, the sink had a hand pump attached to it,I must have been still staring at the place as Haruto came in with the cooler of food.”Do you like it?”

I turned and smiled at him.”I’ve never been in a real cabin before,wheres the bathroom?” He started laughing and took me outside to the outhouse.”My folks never put in any plumbing other then the pump for the sink in the kitchen,but there’s a campground just a ways up the road that has a public bath house and hot springs attached.” To my mind we were roughing it,but I was here,with him and we were all alone in this tiny cabin in the mountains. We went back inside and started to unload everything,Haruto showed me to my room,then opened a second door and put his suitcase inside it,I had the feeling things might not be as crazy as I had thought they were going to be as I closed the door to my room.

I unfolded a futon and opened my suitcase,my mouth dropped open when I saw what was inside,I’d packed nothing but underwear and a single lacey night dress that I’d been way to embarrassed to ever wear before it was one I’d bought from one of those online shopping services.What was I going to do I hadn’t packed any other clothes and we were going to be here the entire three days of this long weekend. I sat down in a chair in the room and took stock of my situation,ok so I hadn’t packed any clothes other then stuff that was sure to make Haruto loose his mind,well I could see where my brain had been at the time,and cautioned myself against getting my hopes up this had been all an elaborate ruse to get me alone in the woods.

Several minutes later I heard a knock on my door and rose to open it,when I did he was standing there in nothing but his bathing suit,and a pair of sandals with a towel around his neck. “Thought we could head over to the hot spring and relax a little before lunch.” I nodded stupidly then told him I’d be out in a few minutes but I’d need to probably buy a towel having forgotten to pack one.”There’s a shop at the springs you can pick one up there,see you in a few minutes.” I was wearing a nice sun dress at least so things weren’t to bad, but I made sure I had my debit card with me and promised myself not to spend to much at the shop. Who had I been trying to kid,the shop stocked tons of summer fashions I spent well over my budget,but found a nice couple pairs of summer shorts,two really adorable shirts,a pair of sandals, a funny beach towel and a swim suit that barely covered the naughty bits of myself sure to turn Haruto’s head. 

I went into the changing room and stepped out in the barely there bikini,and sandals after I paid for them,the shop attendant grinned.”I’m sure your boyfriends going to have his heart stop when he sees you in that,go get’em girl.” I giggled at her and stepped out to find Haruto,carrying the rest of my purchases with me. He was waiting at the entrance to the hot spring,I watched as I approached and his eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of his head. I thought to myself,game on! Inside there was a large communal swimming pool and a huge hotspring separated by the usual fence for men and women. We spent sometime swimming together then parted to bathe in the springs. I was getting drowsy by the time one of the attendants came and shook my shoulder.

“Is your boyfriend Takahashi Haruto?” I nodded at her stretching to climb out of the relaxing water.”He sent me in to tell you he’s ready to leave and he was wondering if you were going to stay on longer,he said to also tell you he will be leaving to go prepare lunch.” I thanked the attendant for the message then told her to tell him I would be out in a few minutes, I just had to get dressed.I decided to put on a new outfit and put the rest of my clothing in the bag I had the rest of my purchases in,it took me longer then I expected but he was still waiting when I finally came out.”Let’s get some lunch then.” I put my arm in his as we strolled back to the cabin,we ran into several people walking towards the hotspring and stopped to chat with them for a few minutes,the day had gotten very warm and when we got back Haruto opened one of the large windows and I could feel the gentle breeze moving through the place.

“Now let’s see what my mom made for us.” He checked in the cooler and came up with a bowl and a plastic container,opening the bowl inside it was Rei-shabu in the other container I found Kara-age. Haruto brought out two plates and we spent a delightful time having lunch.”So have you given anymore thought to what school you plan on attending this fall?” His innocent question made me suddenly shudder.I hadn’t even thought about my acceptance to Yōkai University of Magic and Alchemy we wouldn’t be able to be together as we had planned,my face must have told him something was wrong, because he reached out and folded me in his arms. He held me for a long while as I explained how I had been accepted by a prestigious school and that I dearly wanted to attend it,the only problem was that it was a girls college,I had a sneaking feeling that little lie would come back to haunt me one day but I told it anyway.

Saturday evening we sat out under the stars on a blanket,and were enjoying water melon after a long hike in the mountains that day. Haruto laid his head in my lap when he was done and gazed up at the evening sky.”I wonder if we’ll get to see each other much, except on holidays once we both head off to school,I got accepted to Tokyo Business School going to be studying for a Bachelor of Business administration degree with a Minor in Small Business Management I have plans to come back and take over the lumber yard from dad one day.” I ran my fingers through his soft hair and leaned in to kiss him.

My heart felt heavy.”I honestly don’t know what I plan to study yet,you’ve at least figured that out.” I felt stupid,I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life but I knew it would definitely include him.”I’ll be leaving at the end of of July, got to get my apartment set up and I’ll be starting a part time job to help pay expenses while I go to school, did you want to come with me to help me with my place?” I nodded I definitely wanted to see where he would be living in Tokyo. We got up and picked up the blanket to head inside,all day I’d been thinking about the two of us and how we were going to be separated by so much distance in a very short time,he held my hand in his as we went back inside, the time we spent together started to mean a lot more then it used to.

We sat up talking about friends and former classmates, well into the evening”I heard Seiji asked Himari to marry him the other day, she said yes,guess those two were made for each other after all.” That news hit me like a thunderbolt.”Really? She never said one word,I’m going to give her a piece of my mind when we get back,to think we have been friends since kindergarten!” “Well don’t be to hard on her,she’s likely having a hard enough time as it is already I think Seiji and her well might have played around a little to much, Himari told him she was pregnant like a week ago.My mind was reeling when had I lost track of my best friend and now I had to hear second hand she was going to have a baby,thoughts of babies hit me in the gut like a hammer.

We got up and got ready for bed,the trip had been fun and I had really enjoyed my time with Haruto,I could see how much he enjoyed being with me,I opened the door to my room and softly closed it behind me.Leaning against the door I sighed,the entire time we had been here he hadn’t made a single move to do more then kiss me, I was determined that tonight that was going to change. I opened the suitcase and pulled out the skimpy sheer see through nightdress and slipped out of my clothes,it was so soft as I pulled it over my head that it sent shivers down my body. Armed for battle I crept to the door to open it and found Haruto standing there. Our eyes met and I watched his travel down my body,mine did the same and a red tinge touched my face he was naked.He moved so quickly to fold me in his arms I could feel his warm lips on mine,I could feel his heart hammering in his chest under my hands,he picked me up in his arms and carried me back in my room,gently he laid me on the futon and then lay down beside me I could feel my heart hammering as fast as his was,and he fumbled with a condom,I stilled his fingers and helped him with it,the first touch of him sent a jolt of pleasure through me, my mind whirled and drifted away into erotic bliss,Haruto made love to me that night,his heavy breathing came faster,I moaned softly and felt him shudder we kissed and I felt at peace like no other time in my life.”I love you Honoka!” He whispered, as we lay there in the after glow.


	4. College

I woke tangled in Haruto’s arms,his eyes opened as I tried to sneak out from under the covers. He leaned in and kissed me deeply.”Good morning love,I guess we should get the car packed and head back home, said I would give my dad a hand with the yardwork this afternoon,think you would like to come back again sometime?” I nodded and kissed him again.”I really enjoyed myself lo..lo..love, my stammering made him grin.”You know I think I love being in love with a cute girl like you, when I’m with you I feel like I can do anything!” He pulled me closer to him and held me tightly,I could feel his heart beating under my hands.”I know I still stammer sometimes, I’m still a bit shy about saying things in public or even in private when it comes to, well, things like love and things like that.” I smiled as he tousled my hair.

“I love you just the way you are sexy!” We finally got out of bed,and spent sometime cleaning up before we got some breakfast and headed out to pack the car.On the way back in the car I turned the radio to our favorite station and listened to music all the way back,we didn’t say much of anything on the way back,I kept drifting back to his strong arms around my body,and the feeling I’d experienced when we finally had sex. “Will you be over later?” We pulled up out front of my house and he turned to smile at me.”Wanna go out to dinner later?” I grinned,and I could see he had planned to ask me that all along.”Yes, when did you want to pick me up?” “Ah hows 7PM?” That had become our usual date time,I grinned and reached into the back seat for my suitcase.

“Make it 6, since you’re asking.” He kissed me and drove away. When I stepped in the door three faces were standing there waiting to interrogate me about how my weekend went,mom led the charge,followed by dad and Haru, I fielded the incoming barrage,and told them a lady didn’t kiss and tell if she valued her reputation, my mom started laughing and pointed her finger at my dad.”See I told you shes in love!” Dad scowled then reached up to scratch his head.”Well at least it’s to a young man as smart as Haruto is I am really surprised at that Seiji,him and that Nakamura girl have certainly made a spectacle of themselves,but I guess from what my sister says the two of them are really in love.”

The next several weeks went by like a movie in fast motion, Haruto came over that morning to pick me up and I went over to his place to help him pack the car for the trip, he had already sent on a bunch of his stuff to the apartment he was moving to.”So sure is hot this morning, you can certainly tell July is here.” I glanced over and started laughing Haruto had come out with some kind of big silly hat on his head,he looked so funny I couldn’t help it.”I guess, what is that crazy thing you have stuck on your head?” “Oh I made this back in 11th grade remember for the school festival.” I vaguely remembered seeing the ugly looking giant hat.”Why are you bringing it with you though?” He grinned at me and leaned in to put it on my head.”Ah I thought you might get a laugh out of it,since you’ve been so depressed lately.”

I had thought I’d hidden that from him,but it was apparently not the case.”Do you want to talk about it,or should I just shut up and make like I don’t see how this separation is already going to effect us.” He knew me so well.”Guess it’s really about us being so far apart, Haruto do you think our relationship is going to make it through this?” He leaned in and kissed me.”I think you and I are meant for each other, and just because school separates us,and the distance separates us,it doesn’t mean a damned thing to me,I know my girl is there for me when the chips are down,and she knows our love won’t be denied when all of this is over I intend to put a ring on her finger and make her mine forever.”

I stopped suddenly,the box I was carrying out to the car forgotten.”Is that a proposal?” I swallowed,Haruto came up beside me and took the box from my hands.”That is a promise I intend to keep Ms Suzuki, now I’ll go get that last box and let’s get on the road.” My brain was still trying to process what he had said. I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye and noticed Haru sitting on the roof of the car.”And what do you think you’re up to cat?” Haru looked around then produced a letter, I could see it was in my moms hand writing. “Ah I guess your here to play spy again right?” Haru had been acting a lot more nicer to me since we had had the discussion about her spying on me for my dad all those years.

She put her paw on the letter and pushed it towards me.”All right lets see what mom has to say.” Haru jumped down off the roof of the car just as Haruto brought out the last box and put it in the trunk.”What’s your cat doing here?” I tried to think of some reason for Haru to be there then just held up the letter.”Mom sent me a message,I’ve been training Haru to do all kinds of crazy things so mom thought it would be funny to test her abilities I guess.” He laughed.”Well if she’s coming along,you better put her in the back,we need to get going.” I stood there in shock, he’d just said it was fine to take her along, I smiled and put Haru in the back seat,then climbed into the passengers side to read the letter.

I see you got an early start, I know you and Haru have been having a rough time of it lately but she’s your familiar, I think she’s sorry for what shes done,and I think you should take her along on this trip to Tokyo, please be a little more forgiving,after all she’s going to be with you the rest of your life.Now go have a good time in Tokyo your father and I are so proud of what you’ve accomplished sweety,love mom and dad. There was a lump in my throat as I finished. I reached over the seat and picked Haru up and put her in my lap.”You have to promise you’ll be good ok.”Haru looked up from her place on my lap and simply nodded her head.”Are you seriously talking to your cat? Man sometimes my girlfriend is weird.” I stuck my tongue out at him and we were off to Tokyo.We’d been driving for hours,and had stopped along the way to do some site seeing but now it was getting dark along the Tohoku highway. All afternoon as we’d been traveling we’d talked about nothing but us and our eventual plans together, suddenly I felt a lurch and Haruto lost control of the car, lights of oncoming traffic blinded me and we were heading for the guard railing at a terrible speed. I closed my eyes and willed us to be all right,as the car left the road instead of the horrible crash I’d been expecting I heard Haruto’s indrawn breath. I opened my eyes and the car was suspended in midair, I concentrated and set us down on the side of the road in the breakdown lane. 

When I set the car down I turned to see Haruto staring at me his mouth was wide open and his eyes were round as saucers. I swallowed, my mouth felt dry and I thought for sure he was going to start screaming,suddenly I was in his arms. He was clutching me to him,and I could feel tears running down my face.”So, did you do that?” I couldn’t lie to him any more.”I’m a witch...Haru here is my familiar,and I love you Haruto,that was so scary!” He hugged me tight and started stroking my hair.”I’m glad you were able to save us babe, I thought for sure we were going to die on this damned highway tonight,and I’d never be able to give you this.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a ring box,I started to sob,as he opened it and slipped an engagement ring on my finger.The kiss that followed lasted for several minutes I could feel our hearts beating together in unison,finally he broke the kiss.”Your gonna have to tell me what’s going on, because I really don’t know what to think right now love.”

I explained to him about my being a witch,as we got out to examine the car and see if we could fix whatever was wrong with it.”So when I turned 13, I found out my family had a secret, the women in my family have been witches,well since forever I guess, I got Haru the day I turned 13 and I guess that's when I started training to become a full fledged witch.” “That certainly explains some of the weird things that have happened over the years,were you the one responsible for what happened to those guys that had started playing pranks back in middle school?” That episode had indeed been something I’d done with magic. “Yeah those guys kept trying to peek in the girls locker room,so I summoned a ghost that lived in the girls bathroom and had her chase them off.”

Haruto discovered, that the lurch we had both felt, had been one of the back tires.The drivers side tire had blown out and sent the car into a tail spin. He opened the trunk and started to get to work at fixing the flat. I helped get the old tire wrestled back into the spare tire spot and he soon had the new tire on.”We certainly have a lot more to talk about now,how about let’s get to my new place first then we’ll unload in the morning.” I nodded as we got back on our way to Tokyo, half an hour later after we crossed into the outskirts we pulled up in front of a small apartment building, it was on a rural street. I smiled as I took a look around,the place seemed to be pretty quiet for being in the big city.”Here take the key, I’m in 2B, just up the stairs there on the right,I’ll bring in the suitcases.”

We were both exhausted by the time we set up the big futon Haruto had bought for his new place,shyly I looked at Haru,and tried to think of somehow to explain to her that Haruto and I were going to be sleeping together,I was shocked when she turned to him and said.*I will see you in the morning I’m going out to explore.* Haruto’s mouth fell open as my familiar jumped to the windowsill,used her ability to open it and fled into the deepening night. Haruto turned questioning eyes on me and I knew right then and there, sleep was going to be long in coming. About two AM we finally went to sleep,the conversation had seemed to clear up my mind about a lot of the things I had been so worried about before he had found out I was a witch.I glanced down and held the ring he’d given me up to look at it,a smile crept across my face and I went to sleep feeling like life was about to get better, then it had been in quite a while.

The week I spent there in Tokyo soon ended. We promised each other to call and write each other all the time,and I bid him farewell at the train station. Inside the cat carrier I’d bought for Haru, I could hear her growling in there.”It’s for your own good,they don’t allow pets to roam around the train anyway, just be good and I’ll make sure you get a nice reward when we get back home.” She quieted and the train trip was soon over.Mom met me at the train station and we got home just about lunch time, the hot July day had the field near our house swarming with dragon flies dipping and diving in beautiful dances around the open space.”Your dad asked me to have you take him his lunch.” Just then my mom reached out and and took my hand in hers I swallowed mom had finally noticed the ring on my finger.

Tears filled her eyes,and she crushed me in a big hug.”Oh sweety I’m so happy, when did he ask you to be his forever?” I sat in the car crying and explaining what had happened, my mom held me tight and just let me explain.”Well your father’s going to be shocked and amazed when you show him that,now why don’t we get his lunch made and you go and surprise him right.” I giggled and wiped the tears off my face with the handkerchief mom handed me.”Yeah I bet he’s going to blow a gasket when he sees it.” Dad had only stared at the ring then quietly went back in the back storage room to putter for almost an hour,I stayed minding the store until he finally came back,I could see he’d been crying. His face was blotchy and his nose was running slightly,he didn’t say a word till he walked up to me behind the counter.

“So I take it it’s serious then with Haruto?” I nodded as I started to ring old lady Shimizu’s purchases up,she glanced over and spotted the ring on my finger.”Well it’s good to see a young lady still interested in getting married before she gets all involved with things,whens the wedding?” My dad stood there his face intently focused on me.”Uh we haven’t discussed it yet,Haruto has just gone off to college and I have college to think of as well,I imagine we’ll talk about that once were through school.” She grinned at me gathering her bags then just nodded and left.”Well that was unexpected, but by tomorrow your news will be all over the village,so when did he pop the question?” I stood there and told the whole story again,dad seemed concerned when I told him Haruto knew about me being a witch, but his face softened as my story unfolded.

Over the next two weeks I brushed up on my witchcraft, mom helped me with some minor spells I would likely need. then the afternoon the day before I was due to head to Yōkai University of Magic and Alchemy mom came out to the backyard where I was studying and handed me a small box.I opened it and inside was a two piece pendant one of the pieces was on a silver chain and the other was loose in the box. I looked at it and the pendant was in the shape of a heart.”What does it do?” My question brought a huge grin to my moms face.”It’s a hearts desire pendant,you give one piece to the man you love and keep the second close to your heart,the magic will become apparent very soon after you give it to him. Now why don’t you call him and we can send it to him,or if your feeling especially chipper you could always take your broom and just fly into Tokyo,shouldn’t take more then a couple hours, you could be back by dinner.”

I scrambled to the shed and pulled out my broom, it seemed happy to see me,I hadn’t been taking it out very much lately, but I had a feeling that was about to change.”Take it easy on the flight sweety, don’t go to fast.” I quickly recited the hiding spell,then jumped aboard,I could feel the wind on my face,I nodded to mom and shot off at a speed I’d never flown before I could hear my mom laughing as I flew out of sight.The flight only took a little less then two hours and I landed on the walkway in front of his door,inside I could hear him yelling at something then he pushed the door open in a hurry and nearly slammed into me. He had a sandwich jammed in his mouth and was trying to put on a uniform vest for the store he had found a job at.”Hi!” He stopped and the sandwich dropped to the walkway in front of him.”Uh hi...uh I’m really late babe,I overslept,was up late last night studying,guess I’d better learn to manage my time better.”

I reached into my purse and pulled out the box.”My mom gave me this and told me to give you the other piece.” I opened the lid and took out the loose half of the pendant.he reached out and took it from me.”What’s it do?” “Mom said the magic would become apparent after I gave it to you,but she was being mysterious as to what it actually did,anyway I can see your real busy,I’ll be heading back I guess.”I leaned in and we kissed.He put the pendant in his pocket and ran off to catch his bus. I felt sad as we parted,he was already worrying about school and being late for things and I was only getting ready to start my college life,I got about half way back home,when the pendant now around my neck started to feel warm,my hand went to my throat and I could feel Haruto’s love for me coming through.

“I wish I could be there with him I whispered,my heart felt heavy as those words escaped my lips,suddenly the air around me felt like it was changing,I grabbed hard to my broom and I was engulfed in a golden light,when I opened my eyes I was staring into the shop window,inside Haruto was ringing up a customer.I now knew what the pendant my mom had given me was for,with it I could feel Haruto’s love and when I willed it to activate, it would transport me instantly to wherever he was.Quietly I started my return trip a second time,I was already thinking of just how I was going to surprise him when we got the first chance to be together again.

When I finally got home mom and dad were waiting for me in the backyard.”So how did it go in Tokyo?” My moms face had a huge smile plastered across it, I knew she knew that I’d unlocked what the pendant actually did.”Did he get surprised when you showed up to give him the pendant?” I turned to my dad and his grin matched moms.”You both know exactly what happened don’t you?” They both started laughing.”Your mother and I used one just like it when we were in college, you’d best call or text him before you go popping in out of nowhere,but are you happy Honoka?” I reached out and squeezed them both in a big hug.”I am happier then I think I’ve ever been,now he and I won’t have to be apart.”The next morning I grabbed my case, took my broom out into the backyard and opened the letter of acceptance. At the bottom of the letter was the spell that would whisk me away to my new college life,with some trepidation I recited those words and watched as my mom and dad and the normal world faded away .When I came back to reality, I was standing before a set of Ivy covered gates, a sign to my right said Yōkai University of Magic and Alchemy. A short little man in a bright red suit came forward to greet me.”Well hello to you,all incoming students will report to the main lecture hall for orientation.”


	5. Path of destiny

We gathered in the main lecture hall, and I was amazed by how big it was, the girl sitting next to me on my right was a kitsune. On the other side of me a tall muscular red skinned Oni sat down, I felt dwarfed by his huge bulk. A tall figure came out onto the stage and addressed the crowd. ”We here at Yōkai University welcome all of you, I am the Dean of the school, my name is professor Hawkdale, some of you may have heard of me.Now each of you will be measured by the staff to determine where best you will fit into the curricula here at our prestigious academy of higher learning.Please form lines outside in the quad in front of the tables set up there,and your teachers will assign you your schedules for the upcoming school year, I will see you this evening for the incoming welcoming feast, to be held in the main dining hall later this evening at 6PM.”

With that he was gone,we filed out into the quad and lined up in front of several tables set up there.The kitsune girl poked my shoulder as we were standing in line to get our schedules.”Hi my names Sakura,are you a freshmen to?” I nodded still amazed by all of the different people I was seeing walking around most of them were creatures I’d only heard stories about.”My name is Honoka sorry if I seem to be staring a lot,I have never seen a live Kitsune before,though my mom told me stories about your people when I was training with her.” “Ah,well some of those stories told about us aren’t really true,hope we can be friends.” She held out her hand and I reached out to shake it.”That would be nice,it looks like this is going to take forever,the line doesn’t seem to be moving at all,I wonder why we just couldn’t have been given a schedule selection questionnaire and allowed to choose our own courses?”

“Well when my mom went here,she said each of the professors sitting up there is going to determine where we fit in best,you’ll get choices concerning elective courses but what you get as a major will be determined by one of them,they are all very highly skilled auramancers.” “I wonder what I’m going to get as a major, haven’t really given it much thought.” Sakura giggled and patted me on the back.”Well that’s what the professors are here to help you find an answer to,so I see you’ve got a fine broom there, you going to be a commuter student or living here on campus?” I stared at her stupidly,and shook my head.”I honestly don’t know yet,I just got engaged to my boyfriend back in the normal world,and we haven’t discussed living arrangements yet.”

“Engaged,wow girl congratulations,does he know you’re a witch?” “Yeah but he only just found that out about a month ago, though we’ve been seeing each other since middle school.” “I’m jealous,my boyfriend treats me fine but he’s not into commitments I guess,can I see your ring?” I held out my hand and Sakura stared at it.”He must really love you,I can feel his devotion radiating out of the ring,you’re a lucky women to have found true love like that Honoka.” I started blushing.”Well looks like I’m up next,wish me luck.” Sakura gave me a smile and a thumbs up as I stepped forward and sat in the examiners chair in front of Professor Primrose. He was the red suited little man who had greeted the incoming students at the gate.

“Go ahead and place your hands on the crystal ball,and I shall divine just where your special talents lay from the color of your aura.” I did as instructed and felt an electric jolt run through my body,my hair stood on end and the professors eyes grew round as he stared at me,I felt embarrassed,what had I done wrong on my first day at college.”My goodness I haven’t seen such a strong aura in ages, well then let’s see what you’re best suited for shall we.” He held a circle of fine silver up to his eye and started whistling.”Well that certainly explains why your aura is so strong,we haven’t had an exorcist class invoker in a very long time,you’ll be spending a lot of time in your major Ms, but I am sure Madame Professor Gladkin will set you on the path to your destiny,have a great day here’s your schedule, you may choose whatever elective courses you wish to study, but I have tailored your possible selections to best suit your major,please exit to the right.”

I found a seat at a long table where I saw other students sitting and sat down to look at my choices for elective courses.My major in Exorcism had three courses of study already filled in auramancy, invocation,and combat inscription were needed fields of study to become an exorcist.I was pondering my electives when Sakura sat down next to me.”Yeah it was just like my mom thought,she told me they’d probably tell me my major was going to be in transfiguration,what did they saddle you with Honoka?” I showed her my schedule.”Holy shit your an exorcist!” She let out a long whistle and seemed to be highly impressed by my major.

I ended up taking charms,augury and alchemical studies as my electives and made my mind up to talk to my student counselor about my choices, to see if they would be suitable for me once I got settled in.”Well what are you going to do Honoka? I’m heading over to the college store to see about getting my books,you wanna come with?” I nodded and followed her across the quad as I passed by the the student advisors desk I handed her my schedule selection,she smiled and handed me a copy of my schedule and we were off to the college store to get our books for the year.”Wow this place is packed, want to grab some lunch at the cafeteria? Looks like this crowd, isn’t going to thin out anytime soon.” I glanced inside and the lines were backed up out the door.”Yeah I think I could do with something to eat,think it’ll be as busy there as here?”

“Nah looks like most of the incoming students are trying to get their books,but hey who knows,I feel like getting some Takoyaki, mom said it’s to die for here.” We headed to the cafeteria and joined other students standing in line,I glanced in and saw once you got past the door,they had separate lines for getting different kinds of food.”Wow looks like they have a big alacarte line,a salad line and a couple hot meal lines where do you think we should try?” Sakura ducked past me and took a quick look.”Looks like the alacarte line has fast food stuff,wanna try there?” I nodded and we headed for the alacarte line. The lady behind the counter was a tanuki, Sakura got her plate of Takoyaki and I ended up with a bento box which I found absolutely delicious,I pulled out my cell to take a picture of my lunch and send it to mom,when I noticed I didn’t have any service.

Sakura looked over and started laughing.”You’re in the magical world now,technology doesn’t work over here.” I nodded at her and put my phone away.”You know you could always get a gazing crystal,mines a little old but uh it should be ok to send a quick pic back to your folks.” I watched her pull out a large white crystal from her purse and hand it to me.”When you’re ready to take a picture, just run your thumb over this glyph here,and the crystal will do the rest.” I pointed the crystal at my lunch and ran my thumb over the glyph etched into the crystal,it flashed and I saw an image appear. Sakura leaned over to look and smiled.”You sure got a great shot there,my pics usually turn out terrible,whats your moms crystal frequency?” I sat back in the chair and let my mouth hang open in wonder.”Uh...I don’t know if my mom has a crystal, maybe I’d better save that and see about picking up a couple since technology doesn’t work over here,mom will sure want to keep up with how things are going,can you save the pic until I can get a crystal?”

“Sure, just run your thumb over the glyph below the one you just used and it will save the pic,I can send it to your crystal once you get one easy.” We finished our lunch and headed back to the campus store,the lines had thinned out a lot since we’d gone to lunch and it only took us another half hour of waiting to finally get inside. At the counter we handed the service person our schedules and waited for them to bring us our books.”Looks like you’re going to have a full day of classes Honoka, I’ve only got four classes this year.” I nodded still trying to decide if maybe I should have taken a few less credit hours but that was another thing I’d be wanting to ask the counselor when I talked to them.”Guess I’ll see how brutal the schedule is pretty soon,are you going to commute? Or live here in the dorms?”

“It’s a dorm life for me the next four years,thinking about joining the Ninetail sorority house and getting my party on once in a while,what about you? Made up your mind yet if you’re commuting or staying dorm side over here?” I looked down at the ring on my finger and smiled at Sakura. “I think I’m going to see about moving in with my boyfriend,so probably be a commuter student till graduation.” She giggled and gave me a thumbs up,I spent the rest of the day just following the school map and learning where my classes were located,that evening we gathered in the huge dining hall and had a huge meal together,faculty and staff were everywhere,the big Oni I’d been sitting next to at orientation sat down with Sakura and I.”Hi ladies, the names Ryu, so what do you think of the campus so far?”

I could have sworn Sakura’s eyes lit up when he sat down.I guess I was still pretty oblivious to femine wiles in use but she was soon chatting him up,I told him my thoughts on the campus and excused myself. It was a little after 7 when I finally transported myself back to my backyard at home. Mom was waiting for me on the back porch.”Your dad should be home in a few minutes, how was your first day of college sweety?” I showed mom my schedule and told her everything that had happened that day,dad came in from closing the store and sat down to listen about half way through my explanation.”Sounds like you’ve got a full year ahead,have you spoken to Haruto yet?” I turned to my dad and grinned.”Nope but I think I’m going to call him and head over there this evening,if that’s ok with you?” 

My dad and mom had huge smiles on their faces.”You make sure to take your broom with you, and make sure to take an umbrella,the weather report says there might be rain tonight.” “Uh well I’m not planning on coming home tonight.” Mom’s face reddened.”Oh...yes I see,well then you have a nice evening dear,make sure your up in time for school.” Mom and dad hugged me and I grabbed my cell to call Haruto. My hand was trembling,why was I so nervous.”Hey babe,how was the first day of college?” The nervousness faded. “Uh well it was ok,still trying to wrap my head around it, it ok for me to come over,I wanted to talk to you about something?”

“Hell yeah,come on over,I just finished eating was just going to watch some TV, I got the night off tonight from work.”” Ok well don’t be alarmed,I’ll be there in a minute.” I hung up and whispered. Take me to him.The flash of golden light faded and I was standing there in front of him.His eyes were wide open.”Uh when you said you’d be here in a minute, I thought it was gonna take you a little while to get here,how did you just poof appear in my living room?”I sat down and explained how the pendant worked. “Well that’s awesome,so what did you want to talk to me about babe?” He put his arm around my shoulders as I slid over next to him on the couch.”Well remember when we discussed living together when we went to university?” He nodded.”So you think it would be ok if I moved in?” 

His eyes lit up.”Babe you can move in any time you want,this is so cool, so is that fancy girls school somewhere here in Tokyo then?” “Uh.” I swallowed. “I think I need to come clean about where I’m going to school, I’m not actually at some fancy girls school Haruto,I’m going to a magic school called Yōkai University of Magic and Alchemy.” We sat up discussing things he forgave me the white lie I told him,then things started heating up, I knew he’d been feeling the distance between us,and now those fears had been shooed away.I smiled when he started snuggling up closer to me.”So what seems to be on your mind Mr Takahashi?”

His hand creeped up underneath my blouse and I felt him undo my bra,I turned and felt my breath quickening,his lips came in and started to lay soft kisses on my throat,I eased over into his lap.”So what did you have in mind sir?” “I do believe Ms Suzuki,that I am feeling quite horny,what say we take this little conversation to the bedroom for further discussion?” He lifted me off the couch and carried me towards the bedroom.I opened the door with my free hand and we headed inside,the night heated up,his lips felt like fire on my body, I ran my fingers through his hair and felt his lips find my right nipple,I sighed as he softly sucked them to hardness,my hand roamed over him,and found that hardness that was starting to poke me.

“What do we have here hmmm?” He inhaled sharply and pulled me to him.We made love until the early hours of the morning, I fell asleep holding him in my arms. The next morning I got up when he did and we talked more about my moving in with him.”Babe I don’t have a problem with you being here, but eh how are you going to get to school?” “Well I can use my transportation spell from anywhere to get to school, and I can use my hearts desire pendant to get back here.” “Well sounds good to me,is it going to be ok with your folks?” I nodded. “I’ll get a suitcase together and tell my folks we’ve decided to move in together when I get home from school today.” He kissed me and I went back into the bedroom to get dressed.

I got to class with 10 minutes to spare,I had Augury first class today then Exorcism,and charms to finish up my morning before lunch. I ran into Sakura at lunch,she was sitting with Ryo and talking to him about her transfiguration course.”I think Professor Trindle is a slave driver, shes got it in for me I swear Ryo.” He sat there just nodding.”Hey Sakura, did you find out anymore about that sorority you were talking to me about the other day?” “Oh hey Honoka, yeah I have an invite to go check out the sorority during their intake week next week.” “Ah sounds good?” “Yeah I guess, was just telling Ryo here about my morning courses, how were your morning classes?” “I guess they’ve been ok I have the rest after lunch.”

The day dragged on and it was soon time to head home.I got back and assembled a suitcase,mom came up and stepped in to grin at me.”Your father and I kind of knew you’d be heading to go live with him soon.” I grinned. Mom stepped in and helped me pack my case. “Are you going to come home on the weekends?” “I don’t know mom,but I’ll try to get back as much as I can.” I kissed my mom and dad goodbye and used my hearts desire pendant to head back to Tokyo.I got back just as he was getting ready for work.”I’ve got to study for a Exorcism exam next Friday, when are you going to be home?” “I shouldn’t be later then 10:30 want me to pick up some snacks on the way home?” I nodded as he went past,and broke out my books to start studying.

I was working on the proper inscriptions to use on spirit exorcism when Haruto finally got home, he sounded happy when he came through the door.”My boss gave me a raise tonight babe,we should go out to dinner on my next day off,how’s the studying coming?” I smiled as he sat down beside me on the couch.”These inscriptions I need to learn for my Exorcism exam are a real pain in the ass, but I guess I’m getting it.” He picked up my charms book,and opened it.”Is this even writing?” “I nodded.”Yeah but I doubt you’d be able to read it, you can’t understand the magical writing.” “Well this page says something about using different elements to get the desired effect in a charm your working on.” I stopped and stared at him.”You can read what that says?” He nodded and smiled,tossing the book on the table.

“How about this one?” I handed him my book on auramancy. He started paging through it and smiled.”Yep what does aura shifting spectrums mean?” “I haven’t gotten that far yet,this really puzzles me,normals aren’t supposed to be able to read the magic writing,I think maybe when we go visit my mom I might have her see what’s going on with how you’re able to read this stuff.” He broke out the snacks he’d brought home and I finished about 11, we had both had a long day and just sort of drifted into the bedroom together.”So do you think we need to pick up another dresser?” He was looking at the pile of stuff I’d unpacked earlier that day. “Yeah I guess, I did bring a bunch of my stuff,think we’ll have enough room in the closet?” He grinned as we slipped into bed.”Yeah if not I can get rid of a few things babe.”I nodded as we cuddled up together.”You know maybe your being able to read magical script is what drew us together in the first place.” He didn’t say anything but I could feel his arm go around me. We got settled and were soon asleep.


	6. Exorcist

I knew Professor Gladkin had it in for me,she drove the students in her exorcism class right to the brink.”Ms Suzuki please demonstrate the proper inscription sutra to use against the summoned ghost I have just brought here for this demonstration.” We were in the sealed lecture hall used for practical training and I was sweating,becoming an exorcist was hard work.I leveled my inscription pen at the poltergeist and recited the sutra I thought would best bring the mischievous spirit under control, the sutra flew from the tip of my inscription pen and hit the spirit in the chest,long spirit chains swept out and enfolded the poltergeist in a sutra of binding.

“Well Ms Suzuki it looks like all those hours of study have finally sunk in,this class, is the proper way to detain a Poltergeist,now then Mr Yamada please demonstrate the proper way to banish the Poltergeist back to the spirit realm.” Yamada Hiroshi was the star pupil in the class,he was also Professor Gladkins pet. I watched and his right hand started to glow a pale blue,he pointed at the Poltergeist and released his Ki in a spirit banishing blast,the Poltergeist was ripped apart by the impact and dissolved into vapor.”Very good Mr Yamada, that students is the proper form of the spirit gun,it is useful for dealing with all spirits and creatures from the demonic plane,now who wants to tell me another method of sending the spirit back to its proper place?”

No one raised their hand.”Ms Suzuki would you like to tell me the other method of returning a spirit to it’s realm?” She always picked on me,I had the feeling she enjoyed watching me squirm under the scrutiny of her purple eyed stare. I knew this time I was ready.”Yes Professor, you would employ a circle of banishment,depending on the level of spiritual power you might also employ a second or even third circle,to return the spirit to it’s point of origin.” “I’m astounded by the amount of work you seem to have put in Ms Suzuki,yes that is word for word what you would do in a textbook situation,that being said what would you do if you were attacked by more then a single spirit?”

I didn’t even think about it,my right hand started glowing with a bright golden light,I pointed at the dummy we used as a target and released my Ki in a blast that shattered the target dummy into burning bits. Professor Gladkins mouth hung open,she turned and stared at the bits of dummy scattered across the impact area,when she finally could speak, I got a top mark for my final exam, it had been a long four years in college. Through the entire time I’d made a lot of friends and grown closer to Haruto, Finals were over,and graduation was this Saturday. The Professor shook my hand on the way out of class.”It’s been a pleasure teaching you Ms Suzuki, I hope you will become a powerful Exorcist,you have certainly shown great promise,and all of your Professors have told me you have been one of the hardest working students they have had the pleasure of teaching these last four years,I hope you go on to do great things in your chosen profession,good luck.”

They held graduation at a public venue in the normal world, I arrived at the place and sat with the other graduates in the front of the auditorium. Dean Hawkdale called us to the stage one by one, my parents were sitting with Haruto three aisles back and he stood up and cheered when I stepped to the stage to receive my diploma.Finally Yamada Hiroshi stepped to the stage, he’d made Valedictorian of our class and delivered a speech,I headed back to my seat and didn’t even bother listening to his long winded congratulations of himself. We celebrated at a local restaurant,and began talking about our future plans.”So, when are you two planning on getting married then?” Mom always did have a way of getting right to the point.”I stared at Haruto,not knowing what he was up to,he stood up and got down on one knee right there in the restaurant,he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box,I heard dad chuckle and my hands started shaking as he opened the box.”Honoka,we have been together in our engagement for the last four years, now that we are about to start a new chapter in our lives,would you become my bride?” I stared into the open box and tears began to roll down my face,I nodded and pulled him to me,that kiss sent a thrill through the crowded place,as we held it for nearly a minute. 

“Well Haruto I heard you’re planning on taking over for your dad, first as an assistant manager and then one day to take over the lumber yard, sounds like you’ve got your future figured out,now Honoka,what are you planning on doing?” I started giggling wiping tears from my eyes.”Well I am a certified Exorcist, I think I’m going to get a Spiritual investigators license and open my own business.” My moms mouth dropped open.”Are you planning on doing that here in the normal world dear?” I nodded and showed her the listing I’d put together and the website I planned to use.”Dear me, you do realize normal humans are going to think you’re a joke sweety,maybe you should see about finding a place in the magic world so your not subject to public ridicule.” 

I hadn’t worked so hard the last few years to hide myself away in the magic world.”Nope I already spoke to the licensing board,I am getting my license,then going to set up shop right here In Tokyo.” That started a long conversation that lasted all the way till we finished dinner.”It’s final mom,my minds made up.” She glanced at my dad,and just nodded her head.”I hope everything goes well for you sweety,I just hope you know what your doing.” We parted ways with my parents after making plans to have a small family wedding set for three weeks from the day he’d proposed to me.In three weeks I was going to be Mrs Takahashi,that evening we got back to the apartment and sat down to relax, his parents had sent a message of congratulations they hadn’t been able to attend my graduation due to being on vacation from a sweepstakes my soon to be mother inlaw had won. Haruto’s dad had even sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers to me, a card inside was written by his mom welcoming me into their family. 

“I see why you went and set our wedding for three weeks from now Mr, don’t think I didn’t notice what you’re up to.” He grinned at me,and leaned in to give me a kiss.”Oh come on,you know Riku and the rest of the old gang would all need just a bit of warning,after all Himari has to find someone to watch those three brats they have.” I giggled Himari and Seiji had had three children now the twins had just turned four earlier this spring and their third child was turning two Himari had sent me pictures of all of them,little Aiko was such a pretty little girl, I glanced over at Haruto and leaned in to whisper.”So Mr Takahashi, what do you think about maybe making some babies of our own?” I could see his ears turning red.”Are you trying to seduce me Ms Suzuki?” I growled and dove on top of him,he playfully started nibbling my ear,making me giggle and thrash.”That’s playing dirty sir,stop or I’ll be forced. I never got the rest of my sentence out,his lips covered mine it all surged together,our lips touching,his fingers stroking my hair,the soft touch of his breath on my neck,our clothes fell to the floor, we came together like two wild creatures are bodies became one. Much later that evening as we lay together on the couch exhausted from our love making,Haruto nudged me.”Do you really want to have kids babe?” I swallowed and softly nodded.”Sounds like being parents is going to be something in the cards soon then,oh I got the info back from the vacation planner we talked to about the vacation we planned on taking, I told them to rent out the wedding suite for us.” 

I turned over and caught the look on his face.”You knew exactly when, you had this all...oh Mr Takahashi you are one smooth devil aren’t you.” “I have to make sure I keep one step ahead of you after all,seeing as you have an unfair advantage when it comes to magic.” We both broke out laughing,I grabbed the info packet from him and started to read about where we planned to spend our honeymoon. We were going to Hawaii.”So how are we planning to pay for this honeymoon hmmm?” He tousled my hair and grinned.”My folks are paying for the flight and your folks are paying for the stay at the hotel for a week in Honolulu.” My mouth dropped open and he took that as the cue to kiss me again.

The next three weeks I spent a lot of time at my folks place,my mom helped me get everything set up and finally the big day arrived,everyone gathered in my parents backyard under the huge tent my dad had rented for the occasion,just as the day reached noon we were married,our friends and loved one’s sent us off into our new life together and I was now Mrs Takahashi. On the flight we sat next to each other barely speaking,an older lady sitting next to us,started smiling then leaned in and said.”You two must be newlyweds,am I right?” I started blushing as Haruto cleared his throat.” “I can tell, no need to deny it,when two young people are in love as much as you two seem to be,they just seem to radiate it to everyone,congratulations.” 

After a while I was able to talk to Mrs Matsumoto, she was traveling to see her grand children who now lived in Hawaii after having recently lost her husband, we talked the entire flight and I came to understand what being a wife meant,the old lady left the plane ahead of us when we landed and I watched her children and grand children gather around her,I could feel the love that family had,and promised myself one day I would feel just like that. We got to the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort and Haruto paid the taxi driver as we got out to enter the hotel.”Well Mrs Takahashi what do you think?” “I stared at the beautiful beach and simply nodded my head.”It’ll do I guess Mr Takahashi,shall we head inside and get checked in?” He grabbed our bags and we headed inside.

We spent a glorious week of doing what newly weds do when they are on their honeymoons, and all to quickly it was time to head back home. His folks met us at the airport and drove us back to the village,all the way back my mother inlaw talked to me about what they had done with our stuff that had been shipped back from our Tokyo apartment now that we were back home in Kitashiobara.”Oh my I was all excited sweety when the delivery driver showed up that day, Hiro and I spent a good two days on setting up Haruto’s old room,I hope you two will like what we’ve done,how was your flight back?” I chatted about the trip as we drove home to Haruto’s parents place,and finally got there.”I’ll grab the bags babe,why don’t you head upstairs and open the door.”

It felt strange to think I would be living in my husbands family home,but his mom and dad had certainly made me feel like part of the family. Upstairs I pushed open Haruto’s old door and stepped inside,our futon had been laid out,and the bedding had already been made up,I glanced around and spotted Haru sitting on top of one of the dressers.*Well how did the honeymoon go?* I giggled and picked her up.”We spent a lot of time just being newly weds,have you been being good while you’ve been staying here with the Takahashi’s?” “Asami thinks I am a pretty cat, I am really enjoying living here,it’s to bad I have to keep my true nature hidden from them,they are both such nice normals.* “Just mind your manners,Haruto and I have already talked about getting our own place,when we do, it will be back to normal for the both of us.”

Over the next few days we got settled in, Haruto and I started looking for a place around town where we could move to,and were having a tough time of it in locating anything worth looking at. At dinner that evening I’d helped make the meal and got to know my mother inlaw a little better. “Haruto says you two aren’t finding anything worthwhile in your search for a new home,I think Hiro might be able to help you two out,lets ask him.” When we sat down to eat,Asami brought up Hiro’s brothers house up near the lumber road,Haruto’s father raised his eyebrows at his wife,and grinned.”Well after Kenji died, I just boarded the place up,it’s been vacant for oh about 15 years now,but I don’t see why Haruto and Honoka couldn’t open it up and live there,you remember where your uncle Kenji’s place was right?”

Haruto had nodded and we decided to take a drive up there and see what the place looked like the next day.We got an early start and Haru tagged along to see where we were going.*I love that were out in the woods here,and there are fields close by to.* I grinned and scratched her behind her ears in my lap.”Well if everything checks out ok we’ll soon be living here.” The place was boarded up but Haruto had the key his father had given him for the door. The place was musty when we opened the door,and dust covers covered everything left in the house.”Wow I didn’t know my uncle had this much furniture,I guess when he died dad just left everything where it was,my uncle never married so he lived here all by himself,I used to come up here when I was younger and visit,but well he was kinda strange.”

As we were looking the place over I noticed a strange glow coming from the floor in one of the three bedrooms.”What do you make of that Haru?” I pointed at the glowing place on the floor in the bedroom. *Looks like some kind of warding,maybe you can take a look at it and see if you can get passed them.* I opened my arcane vision and glanced at the finely woven ward that had been placed on the floor of the bedroom.”Whoever did this was a very skilled practitioner of the art,the script work is flawless.” I reached down to touch the edge of the ward and felt a jolt, a spirit rose out of the floor and stopped in front of me to regard me with questioning eyes.”Who are you that disturbs my sanctum?” I drew in a breath and tried to still my heart from hammering.”My name is Honoka, I am a witch and an exorcist so if your going to cause trouble be warned I will banish you!” My warning didn’t seem to phase him in the least.

“I see,well why are you here exactly?” “My husband Haruto and I came up here after Hiro Haruto’s dad told us the place if it was liveable could be ours.” “Oh your married to my nephew, that certainly changes everything, well now my spirit can finally rest in peace, I couldn’t ever leave my sanctum unguarded, knowing if someone ever found it they might inadvertently cause harm to fall upon themselves,but seeing as there’s a witch able to use my place safely,I can now go to my final rest,thank you child,here let me open the ward and you can go look at my sanctum.” He disappeared and the ward faded,a trapdoor appeared and I opened it to find a rickety ladder much like moms leading down,climbing down I entered a fine sanctum there were piles of spellbooks scattered around,and a full alchemy lab set up to work with,I inhaled and sighed. The place was perfect.

Upstairs Haruto had been rummaging around and marveling at the immense amount of junk his uncle had left.”So what do you think babe?” I smiled as I rejoined him in the big kitchen.”I think it’s perfect,ran into your uncles ghost,did you know he was a sorcerer?” Haruto’s eyes widened. ”No but that would certainly explain why I always thought uncle Kenji was just a little creepy,now that I come to think of it,he always kept to himself up here,dad said he was a lot like great grand pa,just a weird old guy.” “I really like this place,lets go back and tell your dad we’ll take it.” We headed back and the next week we started to get things taken care of for moving in,the power had to be turned on in our names,the gas company got called to deliver a tank of gas for the stove and furnace,then we contacted the internet provider and had them come out and hook us up. It took two weeks of living at Haruto’s parents house before we finally moved to our new place,I started grinning when Haruto insisted on carrying me over the threshold in but it certainly felt like we were at last home.”So Mrs Takahashi what are we going to do with the extra bedroom hmmm?” His words made my face turn red.”Oh I can see by your facial expression and that red glow you’ve taken on that you’ve come to the same conclusion I did,shall we see about maybe starting on filling that room up then?” I smacked him,he pulled me into his arms,we made love right there in the living room passionately, till we were both spent and blissfully satisfied in each others arms.*You two are disgusting,I’m going out to explore,I won’t be back till morning,please have my breakfast out for me when I return.* I started giggling my familiar had been disturbed by our love making but I knew she was really only wanting to go and find out everything there was to know about her new surroundings.”Well go on you miserable beast,and don’t come back till morning.”


	7. The first day

I got my license and set up an office near Kyobashi Station just off the Ginza, it wasn’t very much but it had everything I needed to do my job.”So what do you think Haru?” She jumped up on my new desk.*I think it looks pretty good,but you’ve been open a week now and haven’t had a single client.* I shooed her off my desk and sat down.”You aren’t being very nice, it’s probably just my location.” Suddenly the door opened and a short bent man with a cane came in.”Are you the exorcist?” I nodded.”Please have a seat,and tell me what’s brought you to me today.” “I saw your advertisement on the internet, I have a serious haunting at my home,I’ve had a priest come and try to evict the thing but it refuses to leave,it’s gotten worse since the priest came.”

“Where do you live sir?” He gave me his address and we agreed to meet later that afternoon. *Well that sounds promising,sounds like he’s dealing with a phantasm, they aren’t very nice,those things consume peoples souls,you’d better be ready for a serious fight.* I nodded,for my first case this sounded like it was going to be challenging.”I’ll fly over there,and scout the location it sounds like something isn’t right about what Mr Fujita said.” I headed into the alley behind my shop and cast my hiding spell on my broom,mounting it I headed to Mr Fujita’s house. He lived about half an hour from my office,I landed in his backyard and moved towards his door. I could feel the feeling of sadness radiating from the house.”What’s your business here,witch?” 

I stared at the hooded figure hovering in the air above my head.”I was hired by Mr Fujita the man who lives here to remove the spiritual presence in his home, and who may I ask are you?” “I am a shinigami,you are working in my district, I was sent to investigate a disturbance here at this address.” “Well I am a registered Exorcist you might want to let me take a look around before you just do whatever it is your supposed to do.” He laughed at me and drew a katana. “The soulless one within is here due to the death that Mr Fujita refuses to acknowledge, it left a gaping whole in the reality of his life,when his wife died last month she refused to cross over,I told her at the time just what would happen if she didn’t cross to the otherside,now shes become a soulless one,and my job is to see that she gets banished to perdition for her disobedience.”

I stared at him,and thought quickly of how I might perform the service I’d been hired to do,and not get into conflict with a servant of the afterlife.”Listen what if I could talk sense into Mrs Fujita,and turn this tragedy around,do you think if I could do that it would be worth your time to wait and see if I could do it?” He seemed to be debating the question with himself until I saw a black butterfly appear, it landed on his shoulder and he seemed to be listening to it.”The soul messenger says my boss wants to see how effective an exorcist you are,he’s willing to let you bring her across,but if you fail I’m to terminate her and send her to perdition to serve her time there.” I nodded and dug out my gear, I thought about what I’d told Mr Fujita but our time wouldn’t be until much later that day.”Well can you at least get me inside then, I made an appointment with Mr Fajita later today,but it looks like that’s not an option.”

He extended his katana and a crease in reality appeared.”Go on through,you will find her in the living room where she died.” I stepped through the tear in reality and appeared inside the house. I could see the ghostly figure standing near the couch in the living room.”Mrs Fujita,I am a registered exorcist, I am here to help you,please you must see reason, if you continue to remain here amongst the living a shinigami outside has been sent by the afterlife to punish you for being disobedient.” She began to wail,and cry I could see her tears rolling down her ghostly face.I went closer, she drifted towards me and then pointed at a picture on the wall. I followed her pointing and stepped over to examine it closer.

It was an old wedding photo.”I see now,you’re worried that if you leave your husband will become lonely and fall into depression is that it?” She drifted closer and I could hear her trying to tell me that was indeed the problem.”So if I could assure you he will be ok,will you go willingly to the afterlife without any further haunting of your old home?” She nodded.”Alright then, give me your hand.” I’d done some work with spiritual contact before but every spirit was different. Her touch felt icy,but I reached for her hand and concentrated.”Now then you must hold very still while I perform the ritual.” She remained standing very still and I began to incant an ancient sutra that bound two lovers together,when I was finished with the spell I saw a single tear fall from her eye,reaching out I caught the tear and placed it on the coffee table next to where she was standing.

“Your tear will remain,and he will know you are waiting for him on the other side, are you satisfied by this Mrs Fujita?” I could see by her face she was convinced, I reached into my kit and took out my inscription pen to create a binding sutra.”I’m not going to hurt you now,but I must prepare you to be transported to the other side now, do you understand?” She nodded and I bound her in a soul sphere created from my binding sutra. Gently I plucked her out of the air and hurried back through the tear in reality to the shinigami waiting outside. I handed him Mrs Fujita’s soul sphere.”I’m impressed, usually you humans are pretty dense when it comes to dealing with the spirit realm,I’m pretty sure we’ll meet again since you’re working in my district,good work my boss says you’ll be getting a lot more work thrown your way since it looks like you’re pretty dependable,and thank you for treating Mrs Fujita so kindly, my way is usually quite brutal.”

With that he was gone, I waited until Mr Fujita returned home and explained what had happened tears fell from his eyes when he found out the spirit that had been haunting him was his recently passed wife,I told him about her final gift to him on the coffee table inside and He filled out a check for my fee of ¥15,000 and even threw in a ¥6,000 bonus I left feeling like I’d truly accomplished something great and flew back to my office smiling.* So while you were out, you got 5 calls and 3 emails,you might want to check into those.* I patted Haru’s head and she started to purr.”Do you like coming to work with me?” She jumped up on my desk and stared into my face.* I feel useful here,I don’t know much about this technical stuff but I can use my skills to take messages and make sure when your in the field that they get to you in a timely manner if you want me to?*

We agreed that her being a messenger to relay information would be vital when I was working outside the office,just as I sat down to a fresh cup of tea,the door opened again and my second client of the day came in and sat down.”I heard from a reliable source that you’re the new face to talk to about ghostly happenings and demonic possession,I run a fortune telling shop in the Ginza, my customers have been being scared away by a pesky poltergeist that’s taken up residence in my shop,I’m even loosing my magic world clients because this floating menace has become a real pain in my ass,I’d like you to come exterminate it for me,and I’ll pay you ¥20,000 for your services.”

I smiled and shook hands with Madame Ota.”That sounds agreeable to me,let me grab my broom and I’ll be right over what’s the address of your shop?” She gave me the address and stepped out the back door of my office into the alley.”Well we could save time if you wanted to fly over with me, I have a two seater carpet.” Madame Ota reached into her large purse and pulled out a rolled carpet she laid it out and commanded it to rise,I’d never used a flying carpet before so I climbed aboard.As we passed over the buildings below I asked her about the carpet and found out it was an import from Arabia.

When I arrived at the scene Madame Ota opened the back door to her shop and I could see the damage the poltergeist had already inflicted. Broken pottery,ripped drapes, shattered glass in her front window and door.”Any idea what drew the pest to your shop?” I asked. “I think one of my clients may have gotten upset with a reading and sicced the damn thing on me,but as of yet I’ve been unable to rule out who it might have been that has done this to me.” If one of her clients had been responsible then my taking down the pest wouldn’t really stop the problem it would only delay further sendings of the same kind when whoever did it sent the next one.

It took me nearly half an hour just to locate where the poltergeist was hiding, it had gone into the air conditioning vent and was hiding in there. I could feel it’s malevolent gaze on me as I used a divining crystal to locate its whereabouts.”Ha I found you,you have one minute to return to your point of origin or I will be forced to banish you,you have 60 seconds to comply.” I could feel violent energy ripple through the air conditioning vent,and a ghastly screaming cloud of sickly green smoke blasted out of the vent,nearly taking my head off in the process,it screamed around the room throwing various objects at me and Madame Ota,I dove under a thrown chair and saw it howling toward the table Madame Ota used for her readings.

The spirit wasn’t about to go willingly,I drew in energy as the damned thing picked up the table and tried to smash me to the floor with it. I rolled away from the oncoming table and released my spirit gun in a bright blast,the vile thing exploded in a shower of sickly green sparks,as it vaporized from the blast. Madame Ota crawled out from behind her service counter and stared at my still glowing hand.”Well I see why the ether is alive with talk about you,that was amazing.” I wrinkled my nose as the stench of burnt Poltergeist lingered in the room.”I have always felt ill after having to deal with one of these, but I don’t think this is going to be the end of your troubles Madame Ota,I think unless someone finds out whose sending these spirits after you,this will likely be just the beginning.”

She agreed with my evaluation of the case and we discussed her further employment of my service in hunting down the person responsible for sending the spirits in the first place,I flew back to my office just in time to pick Haru up and close for the day. I used my hearts desire pendant and transported haru and I home.”Welcome home love,I got dinner started,how did your day go? Mine was a nightmare,we had one of our trucks breakdown on the way to a delivery in Nagoya.” I leaned in and kissed him.”My day actually didn’t turn out to bad though I nearly got smashed by an angry poltergeist with a table.” Haruto looked concerned and reached out to hug me.”Babe I know your job is dangerous,but can we not talk about it, it scares me when I hear some kind of creepy monster or spirit might try killing my wife.” I nodded in complete understanding, Haruto loved me and my going to a job that could potentially threaten my life on a daily basis was proving just a little bit hard to deal with.

I helped finish dinner, and we sat down at the table to relax.”Did you pay the gas bill today?” He grumbled to himself then shook his head no.”Didn’t get to the office in time,I had to go all the way out and pick up that truck I only just got back just before you got home,I’ll get to it tomorrow,did you think about grabbing something for my moms birthday tomorrow when you were in the city?” I slapped a hand to my forehead I’d completely forgotten promising him I’d find something nice for us to give his mom the next day.”I’ll do it in the morning when I get to the city before I head into the office,sorry it seems like we both had a rough day today.”

We cleared the table and washed the dishes,by that time it was nearly eight o’clock in the evening.”I need to get an early start tomorrow dad has me running all the way into Yokohama to talk to possible clients there.” I nodded and headed upstairs behind him. I climbed into the shower and was starting to nod off when I heard the shower door slide open,I turned and felt his arms go around me,”Think we can wash up together babe?” I started giggling as he started kissing my neck.”You are so bad love!” He laughed and ran his hands over my body.”I have a little time,you feel frisky?” “Oh go on,I had a rough day and so did you,you sure you want to get all excited?”

We finished washing and got dried off, by the time we got into bed, our eyes closed and we woke early in each others arms.”I guess I was to tired after all babe,make sure you come home early today,we have moms party tonight.” I couldn’t believe we’d actually been to tired to have sex last night. I finally climbed out of bed and Haru snuck around the corner of my bedroom door.* I was out last night, did you know that in that nearby field is a stone circle?* I stared at her.”What kind of circle are we talking about here?” *It’s some kind of portal I couldn’t determine exactly what kind it is but when you get close you can feel the energy coming off it,want me to take you to it?* 

“Well when I get home this evening we’ll take a quick look,but I have an appointment with Madame Ota today,and I’ll have to get in touch with the rest of those clients who contacted me yesterday,plus I have to go shopping this morning before we head into the office.” *You could drop me off at the office,I’ll be there to take messages if any come in,while your out shopping.* “That actually sounds good, let me get dressed and I’ll fly us into the office.”

I flew into work,and let Haru off to mind the phone.”I’ll be back in an hour.” I flew into the Ginza and stopped outside the local market district, then walked in on foot. I had to find something to get my mother inlaw. My feet led me to the Ginza 6, I spent the next 45 minutes going through shops until I found a book store, my mother inlaw loved quilting I browsed the craft book aisle and finally found a book on creative quilting designs,it was perfect,I had the shop clerk gift wrap it and was off to the office.*You have 6 more calls to reply to and Madame Ota sent you an email, it sounds like she had another bad experience at her home last night,she wants you to come over and investigate this morning.* I looked at the open email on the computer and patted Haru on the head.”You’re a pretty good office assistant,I think when we break for lunch I’ll head to the fish market and bring you back something nice,what would you like?”

*Bring me back some blue mackerel please.* I nodded and sat down to go through the rest of my phone messages and email, a bakery was having trouble with their ovens, a lady in one of the nearby apartment buildings was experiencing strange power failures and the transit authority had called me to investigate something that had taken up residence in one of the local public restrooms at the Kyobashi Station close to my office, I glanced at the rest but including the appointment I had scheduled with Madame Ota this morning. I didn’t think I would have enough time in the day to get to all of the requests.I began calling and setting up appointments for the next week.

“So that’s done, I was thinking, you’ve been doing a great job Haru of just taking messages to me when people contact the office, how would you like to be my actual office assistant?You can get the calls and set up appointments,and do the same with the incoming email,if anyone shows up all you have to do is act like a cat and they will just think I am out of the office.” Haru jumped up behind my computer and gazed at me for about a minute.*Well, what does an office assistant get paid?* I started laughing.”You know I think we could work something agreeable out between us,so willing to give it a try,I am really in a bind here.” She nuzzled my shoulder.*Okay boss,we’ll talk about my pay later tonight,you need to get over to Madame Ota’s place see you at lunch time.*

I got up and grabbed my broom getting ready to head out when the phone rang again.*Hello good morning you have reached the office of Takahashi Honoka certified Exorcist,how can I assist you this morning.* I giggled as I went out the door. The flight to Madame Ota’s house was a bit brisk, I could feel fall in the air as I came in for a landing in her backyard. “I’m glad you're here, I was attacked last night when I was getting ready for bed,it was some kind of Yokai, it scratched me,see.” She held out her left arm and I could see swollen inflamed scratches running down it from elbow to wrist.I reached into my work kit and rummaged until I found a antidote salve I’d crafted in my new home lab.”This should clear up any lingering poison effects,have you thought about maybe having a ward set up around your place?” She held open her door and we went inside to discuss what had happened the previous evening in greater detail.


	8. Night Parade of a Hundred Demons

That afternoon I returned to Madame Ota’s house, and brought my ritual gear with me to lay down a ward to protect her home from further yokai incursions. I sat crossed legged in the center of her home and began my ritual cleansing with a Kanso ritual. Once the elements were aligned I began to lay down a Seven circle ward of protection. When I was finished, I pricked the end of my index finger and sealed the ward with my blood. When my blood touched the inscription,the entire series of wards lit up in a bright flash of golden light,slowly fading into nothing.”There that should keep you safe from any uninvited yokai or spiritual guests trying to enter your house.” 

I’d taken on Madame Ota’s case as an ongoing assignment until we got to the bottom of who was sending creatures from the otherside after her.”Thank you Mrs Takahashi,I hope you can get to the bottom of this quickly every day my business remains closed I’m losing customers.” “I understand, I’ll get to the bottom of this as quickly as I can.” I left her home and headed to my next appointment, I arrived at the Transit Authority building and was shown into the deputy directors office.”Mrs Takahashi, thank you for getting back to us in such a timely manner,the problem we’ve been experiencing is well to be honest,quite disturbing we’ve had several attacks on commuters,and two on employees,were baffled as to what people have been reporting as fact.” 

“I’d like to read the reports that you’ve received from the people who have been attacked,it may give me some idea of what I’m going to be dealing with.” The deputy director handed me a file folder.”All of the reports we’ve taken are in here,the person just doesn’t seem to fit with any known profile the police have been able to determine,the Director put me in charge of the investigation,and my assistant found your listing on the internet,we decided that maybe an outside professional might be able to shed some light on what were dealing with.” “I opened the file and started to read what the first report said,by the time I got to the third report I knew I was dealing with more then one yokai,none of the reports matched,some described a tall thin creature,others described a scale covered creature attacking from stalls in the public restrooms.

I needed to get a closer look at the scene of the attacks.”If it would be ok,I’d like to take a look at the scene,could you direct me to where these attacks occurred?” He nodded and called someone to come and go with me to examine the sites of the attacks. We went down into the subway tunnel and headed towards the public restrooms.”So my boss said you were some kind of crazy private investigator or something like that,what do you do exactly?” I turned to the guy and just smiled.”You could say I’m the person you call when things like this start happening.” He nodded and directed me into the ladies restroom. I stepped inside and pulled out my silver eye loop,I cast a divination and waited for the spell to bring out the aura’s of the yokai that had attacked the normals in the place. When I looked there were three different Yokai aura traces left.”Well look what we have here,looks like a nosy witch decided she wants to come poking around our fun,Grizby,what do you think of that?”

The red skinned demon pushed the door to the stall open and flicked a cigarette at me,another seeped out of the floor drain like a snake and the third dropped from the ceiling it looked like a female spider with a human body.I could feel the evil presence like a stench creeping through the place. I stood there unafraid.”I have been employed by the city of Tokyo transit authority to see to the protection of the innocent people you have been terrorizing now you have 60 seconds to depart these premises before I will use deadly force to exorcise all of you Yokai!” The red skinned monster brushed his claws against his bare chest and smiled with a mouth full of shark like teeth.”This crazy bitch,thinks demons of the night parade are afraid of a skinny little human witch,she must be brain damaged!”

“30 seconds.” The serpent like sludge demon that had come out of the drain stuck out a slimy tongue and licked it’s vile lips,making a disgusting sound.”She’s completely nuts,hey Drieea,she must think were scared.” The spider like female humanoid demon held her nails up and started to file them with a nail file she pulled from a purse.”Grizby I think humans are all crazy you know that.” “15 seconds before I use deadly force.” They all laughed together at my warning,I started drawing in energy,the spider bitch had an inkling something was wrong just as I blew her head into spiritual ruin,her body was thrown against the bathroom wall,vile green ichor splattered up the wall in a spray of ugly demonic corruption.

The sludge demon spat a stream of bile yellow acid my direction,it smashed into my spirit shield causing it to spark in reaction,the red skinned monster leaped into the air his sharp clawed foot leading his attack,I rolled into one of the stalls,and slammed the door in his way,the door rebounded inward from the impact and I started reciting a sutra of defense to push it back away from me,I heard the sludge demon scream and it began squirming it’s way under the door trying to attack my feet.”You bitch I’m going to rape your ugly stupid ass,then I’m going to pull out your heart and eat it in front of you.” I fired through the door a straight shot that left a sizzling smoking hole in the door,and emptied his guts out across the bathroom floor,his dying scream shattered the mirrors and caused the stalls to vibrate, I saw greasy smoke rising from him as he slid down the wall to the floor.

The sludge demon turned into a pile of bubbling slime and slurped down the drain,I tried blasting it,but it had gotten clean away. I cleared my mind and recited a sutra to burn the corpses into cinders banishing them back to the plane of hell, where they had come from.The transit authority worker came barreling in his chest heaving as if from a long run.”I was over by the ticket dispensers,something came shooting out of the the drain and attacked three people,it looked like a slimy snake,we need help out there!” Just about that time his eyes came to rest on the burning bodies on the bathroom floor,his mouth fell open and he started to shake violently. I reached out and took him by the shoulders,then pulled back my right hand and slapped him in the face.The shock brought him back from the fear response he’d been spiraling down into.”Take me to the attack site now!” My voice held authority, I knew if I didn’t get there quickly people were likely going to die very horrible deaths.I ran down the walkway and started pushing my way through the outgoing traffic.”Please clear the way,there’s an emergency we need to get through!”

By the time I was able to force my way through the rush hour crowd,the three people who had been attacked were laying in spreading pools of their own blood,I pulled the silver loop to my right eye and gazed around searching for any signs the demon was still here in hiding,I easily spotted the vile aura of demon and it led off down the transit rail tracks and into the city sewer system drain.”It’s gone for now,but these poor souls will need to be sanctified before the coroner can remove them they were killed by a demon.” He looked at me like I was insane but held back the crowd as I quickly performed the cleansing ritual over each of them.”I need to get moving,tell your boss I’m going to track the demon that got away back to wherever it’s lairing and destroy it,I’ll be back for my fee when I finish dealing with the last Yokai that attacked these people.”

I ran down the side of the tracks and used a quick levitation spell to move the heavy sewer grate out of my way,below a metal ladder led down into the darkness,I could smell the greasy slime wafting up out of the hole. I climbed down into the utter blackness and stepped off the ladder with a sickening squishing sound,I didn’t want to know what I was walking through but I could smell the stink of human urine and feces as I splashed along the slippery tunnel,when it became to hard to see,I recited a quick lantern spell and attached it to my wedding ring. Holding the divination loop to my eye I could see a long trail of demonic energy leading away from me down the tunnel further ahead.

I came out into a intersection of huge pipes and stared up,above me I saw where the trail of demonic energy led. I put my divination loop in my pocket and started climbing a ladder that led up to the street.I came out in an alley,at the end of it I found a portal etched in demonic symbols still faintly glowing from being used very recently. I sighed the Yokai had escaped, I turned to head back to the Transit authority,when a snake body went flying past me and landed rolling into the street. It rose coughing bright green ichor,it turned terror filled eyes back my direction. I followed its gaze and turned to see a demon that radiated power like a dynamo,I could literally see the pulsing demonic energy seeping out of his body in waves.

“I am Nura Rikuo,I am the Lord of the Night Parade and I came to make sure my servant pays for the crimes he and the other two you banished committed.” The demon in the road,began to plead for his life as his lord drew the Dai-katana from over his shoulder. “You were told we were here only to punish sinners Grizby, this exorcist did me a favor by destroying those two,I won’t have disobedience in my clan,you know what I have to do.” As he moved passed me,I could feel the aura that surrounded him,here was a truly terrifying demon lord,and he was talking about punishing human sinners.”Before you destroy him,could I ask you one favor Lord Nura?” His silver eyes turned to me,and he nodded his head.

“I am responsible for protecting humans from Yokai and creatures of the spirit realm, that demon and his two companions reeked harm on innocent humans,my employer will desire proof so that I may complete my assignment in an equitable fashion,would you do me the kindness of bringing that foul yokai to my employers office, that I might fulfill my duty?” He let out a roar of laughter,his blade swept out and the head of the sludge demon rolled from the trunk of it’s slimy body I hadn’t even seen him move.”Here, here’s the proof you desire exorcist,I haven’t got time to waste on proving the existence of demons in this world,but be warned my job from now on is to punish humans responsible for causing the suffering of others,I made an agreement with Ryūjin that in return for my cooperation to punish human sinners,he would release my clan from the grand divide, now human if you will excuse me, I have a busy schedule of punishment to see to.” He reached down and wrapped a cloth bag around the severed head then handed it to me as my proof.”Oh before I go, just which god are you descended from anyway?” I stood there in a state of shock.”I...I don’t know if I’m descended from any god to my knowledge lord Nura, why do you ask?”

“Because only a child of the gods can wield the golden light of heaven that you focus into your spirit gun,hasn’t anyone ever asked you about it before?” I stood there with my mouth hanging open,then he disappeared leaving me there like a fish out of water, with a ichor dripping bag to prove to my employers I wasn’t crazy.I got back to the Transit authority office and was ushered into the assistant directors office. “Mrs Takahashi, just what is that disgusting odor,and what is that god awful thing you’re carrying into my office?” I tossed the ichor covered bag on his desk,then pulled it open.”There’s the proof I have done my job, I completed your assignment,now lets talk about my payment, I figure taking out three demons even with the aid of a demon lord should be worth something to you I imagine.” 

I left the transit authority office ¥ 100,000 richer, learning of the existence of demons made the transit authority assistant director into an instant celebrity when he contacted the local media,I just wanted to get back to the office and get home for the day,tonight was my mother inlaws birthday party and I was exhausted from the busy day I’d had.Opening the door I found Haru still answering calls and taking messages.*What the hell happened to you today?!* I sat down and scratched her behind the ears.”You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” *Well whatever you did,the calls and emails started coming in like the tide.* I glanced at my phone messages and then at the appointment schedule on the computer.”Just how many people called anyway?”

*I don’t know exactly, I stopped answering after 200.* I sighed and reached out to hug my familiar.”Sorry you had to work so hard,I guess when people found out demons really do exist,it must have caused a panic to find ways of stopping them,I think I’d better hire on some more help,anyway let’s get home I’ve had a long day already.” I locked up and turned my open closed sign to closed,then whisked us back home.”Welcome home babe,how was your day? Mine was awesome,the clients signed a contract with us,and I even was able to get those bills paid on time,mom said were expected for dinner at 6.” I sat down and slipped out of my shoes,just then noticing the disgusting slime they were covered in.”Uh well my day went ok,if you don’t include killing a couple of demons and revealing to the rest of the world that demons really do exist.” 

I went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and kept thinking about what the demon lord had said about my being descended from one of the gods,something about that kept bothering me,I tried to think back to what it might all mean then it hit me like a bolt from the blue,the fortune my mother had had cast when I was born,could that have something to do with me being a descendant of one of the gods. I reached for my phone and noticed I had a call on my gazing crystal,I decided to answer that first.”Yo Honoka,saw that big dust up you started on the news,sounds like your going to be looking for some new help,once all them normals find out that that shit that goes bump in the night is more then just noises they’ve been hearing,call me back when you get this message.” Hastily I dialed Sakura back and heard a loud commotion when she picked up.”Hey girlfriend,so Ryo and I were discussing your situation and if you’re in,we wanted to come talk to you about working with you.” I hadn’t really thought about it but Sakura’s skills might come in handy and having a seven foot full blooded Oni on the payroll might be a step in the right direction to.”Meet me at my office around 9AM tomorrow and let’s sit down and discuss this some more.” “You got it,now it’s time for this kitsune girl to go get her freak on,later Honoka!” 

She hung up in my face,I sighed and got my cellphone out.My mom picked up on the third ring. “Hello sweety I saw on the news you certainly have made a splash in Tokyo,what did you call about?” “Mom are we related to any gods?” Her phone had slipped out of her fingers,I heard it hit the floor.The next voice was my dads when the phone got picked up.”Honoka,we have to talk your mother is hysterical, shes crying and telling me you finally found out about the fortune,when you have time we’ll be here,please understand Honoka ,we’ve kept this secret so long only because we didn’t want evil people and things to try taking you for their own evil purposes,I hope you can forgive us sweety.” 

I could hear my mother sobbing on the other end of the line.”I’ll be by tomorrow dad,please tell mom I didn’t mean to upset her,but I need to know the whole story,see you tomorrow around 6.” I hung up, got my shower and we made it to my mother inlaws party right on time,we had a wonderful evening of good food,music and delightful conversation with my inlaws,around 7 we headed back home. We got out of the car, and headed for the door. I stopped suddenly and gazed at the two figures standing on my porch.”Mistress this is the daughter of Hachiman we spoke of before.” Haruto came around from his side of the car and simply stared at our visitors with suspicious eyes.

“Just who the hell do you think you are, coming out here to my house and bothering my wife and I anyway?!” The tall thin female figure seemed to ooze out of the shadows of the wall.”My name is Izanami no mikoto,and my servant here is a shinigami in charge of this area of Japan,I wanted to meet a daughter of Hachiman, he and I were once very good friends,now then can we step inside, I haven’t been back to the living world in oh the last several thousand years,and I’d rather not attract the attention of any wandering spirits,they can be such a bother when they start wailing and gnashing their teeth in shame every time I appear.”

My mouth hung open in stunned shock we were standing in the presence of the Japanese goddess of creation and death.”Pl...ple..please do come inside,ignore my husband he’s just over protective of me around strangers.” Izanami no mikoto smiled and I felt my heart skip a beat.”I am sorry for not calling ahead,I’m not up on the current social niceties of todays culture but let’s step inside.” Haruto unlocked the door and Izanami no mikoto seemed to ooze in like a living shadow. The shinigami followed her in and we stepped in after them.Haruto didn’t look impressed.”What’s the goddess of death doing at our door anyway?” He whispered to me as we stepped into the kitchen.”I don’t know maybe she’ll explain when we sit down and talk.”


	9. Life after fortune

That night changed my life,the next day changed it even more,mom showed me the actual fortune she’d saved all of those years. I didn’t believe the words I had read.”So our family has always been related to Hachiman?” My mother was sitting at the kitchen table,holding my dads hand.”That’s the reason we really moved out here to the country Honoka, when we found out the time of the dissolution of the grand divide spell was at hand,we knew the things on the other side would be coming for you, you represent the next generation of witches, I had my suspicions about you sweety, our family have always been influential in the magic world,but when you came along your birth was heralded by a falling star.”

I went into work the next day and met with my new associates,Sakura and Ryo started that day Haru remained as the office assistant,but Sakura said she would take over the walk in’s so our business wouldn’t loose any future clients.”So what’s the plan boss lady?” I stared at Ryo in his normal side disguise he looked like a very tall normal man,not the red skinned monster with the huge horns he normally had.”Haru has the assignments broken up into our different specialties the files are on my desk.” They both grabbed a stack of files and we agreed to meet back at the office at lunch time to talk about the morning case load.

I was coming back to the office after having tracked down the person who had been responsible for sending the poltergeist after Madame Ota,it turned out to be one of her longest held clients who had been angered by a bad reading. I had turned my findings over to the magic world authorities and had gone back to inform Madame Ota of the perpetrators identity,she’d been shocked to learn just who it had been,but I got paid my fee and was heading back to pick up my next assignment. Suddenly the sky darkened, I felt a wrenching feeling,my head started spinning the street I was walking down seemed to shimmer and I collapsed to the sidewalk. When I opened my eyes again,the entire street was in a state of chaos. Several Jorogumo were on a rampage people were running,people were screaming in terror as the creatures of legend tore into the normals with hungry abandon.

I heard a vile hiss,and turned to watch a city worker being devoured by one of the horrible half spiders. My head felt like it had been split down the center of my skull,I tried to get up but the dizziness only made me vomit.I managed to crawl away from the horror I’d just witnessed but around me I could hear more screams and the sound of running feet.”So witch,were you ready for this?” I looked up and the shinigami who ran this district was hovering over me.”What’s happened, everything's been turned inside out?” He reached down and helped me up.”The grand divide spell your people cast to separate the magic world and the normal world has finally ended,now the two halves have come back together,and this is what were going to have to live with from now on.” I stared at him,my mouth hanging open the grand divide spell had been sundered,and this was the result.

With the shinigami’s help I made it back to the office and found my two associates inside in there magic world forms,they both seemed to be in a state of shock.*Honoka,I’m scared what’s going on? When noontime rolled around they just suddenly stood up and changed,frantic people started calling us,there are monsters and demons being reported everywhere. I was listening to the radio,and an announcer came on shortly after half past noon and said the entire country is in a state of emergency and martial law has been declared,everyone is to return to their homes,the army has been called in to deal with the problem.* I stared at my two associates for several minutes then gathered Haru in my arms.”I don’t know what I can do for them,they seem to be frozen.” Just as I spoke those words they both collapsed to the floor.

Haru leaped from my arms and I scrambled over to see if I could help in any way.I could hear Sakura trying to say something, I got closer and she was telling me to run.”I’m not leaving you two here,the armies been called in whatever happened at noon has sundered the grand divide,there are Yokai everywhere in the streets and neither of you looks human right now,if the army finds you,you’ll certainly be shot on sight.” Sakura nodded and crawled over to where Ryo was still trying to recover.”Come on babe,Honoka says we need to get the hell out of the city,the two worlds have come back together.”

He put a hand to his head and I felt a surge of energy ripple through the room,he no longer looked remotely human.”Where am I taking us then?” I knew exactly where we were going. “Both of you come and take my hands.” They did and I willed us back to my house and into a war zone. Haruto was boarding up windows and had barricaded the front door. I ran over to find he had a long bleeding wound on his left arm. He turned when he heard me coming and breathed a sigh of relief.”Whatever happened at lunch time when I was coming home to eat,is bad, when I got out of the car these giant wasps started attacking me!” “They are called Saimyōshō, they are minor demons with a nasty poisonous sting,your lucky you didn’t get stung but only scratched by one,because the poison is deadly.”

I turned to stare at Sakura she seemed to be in a trace.”Let’s get the rest of the place secured if Saimyōshō are outside it won’t take them long to find human souls.” I nodded at Ryo as he moved to give Haruto a hand,Sakura came out of her trance like state a few minutes later and pitched in with the rest of us in getting the house secured.”I feel so strange Honoka,it’s not normal for me to just space out like that.” I nodded at her as we took a short break to talk about what we might be able to do to better protect ourselves from the giant pests we could hear buzzing around outside.”You should throw down a seven circle ward Honoka,that might keep those ill tempered bugs away!” Ryo had walked up as he’d come downstairs.”I helped your husband secure the upstairs windows,for the moment we should be safe.”

I thanked them both for the help and went into the bathroom to help Haruto bandage the wound he’d received from the demon bug.I opened the door and he was on the floor on his knees,I ran to him only to watch him tilt back his head and a surge of silver light erupted from his eyes and mouth.My arms went around him,terror gripped me as I watched my husband begin to shake violently,I held his body against me and shuddered at what I saw,bright blue facial marks like some kind of demon mask appeared on his face,I gulped,I could sense magic at work on him. I heard a tearing sound, and a rift appeared in the air over our heads.I feared what ever had made it was trying to get into our house.An arm covered in symbols shot out holding a katana It extended downward and Haruto opened his new silver eyes.I didn’t know what was happening,suddenly he reached up and took the Katana from the hand that offered it to him. I heard a disembodied voice say.”The pact is sealed demon hunter,serve me well!” The rift disappeared and my husband turned to gaze at me with a silver eyed stare.”Honoka love,I guess maybe now's not the best time to tell you about my family secret but,my family have been   
known to be demon hunters in the past. I never gave much thought to those old family stories,but well I guess he wasn’t lying when grand pa told me about it back when I was just a little boy.”

I helped him up and walked with him out to where Sakura and Ryo were sitting at the kitchen table. Ryo took one look at Haruto and leaped back ten feet into the living room.”What’s the Shōki doing here!” He howled. Sakura turned into her fox form and scrambled under the kitchen counter I could hear her whimpering.”What’s got you two so upset? Haruto just had some kind of spiritual occurrence happen to him,I watched it happen,you two need to calm down and explain,I think Haruto’s in some sort of distress,do either of you know about a rift that opens and gives out blades like this?” I took hold of my husbands arm and held up the katana he had clutched in his hand.

Ryo started running for the door, I hastily threw a reflection spell and watched him slam into it and rebound to roll all the way back to the couch,his face held a fear I couldn’t understand.He started babbling to himself,I thought he was losing his mind,Sakura timidly belly crawled over to where he had come to rest and transformed back into girl form.”Honoka he’s terrified and so am I that blade is the bane of all demons,spirits and Yokai, it’s touch can kill us!” I helped Haruto into his big easy chair, and pulled the katana from his hard clutching fingers,he sighed and let me take the blade from him.Placing it on the coffee table I watched my friends from college begin to relax.”Alright, now can someone maybe explain to me what’s going on,because right now all I have is an old story and a creepy arm, that appeared out of nowhere and handed my husband, that blade you both fear so much?”

Ryo finally got himself under control enough to sit on the couch well away from the blade laying on the table.I watched him swallow and take a steadying breath.”Legend says when the two worlds become one again,the Shōki will return to defend humanity from the scourge of darkness and he will be the bane of Yokai and demons alike.” “My grandmother told me the blade is so sharp it can cut through spells and magical protections. Sakura continued,both of them looked scared to even be sitting in the same room as Haruto and me.”Well Haruto and I know both of you,we went to college together both of you have been my friends ever since then,do you honestly think Haruto’s going to just go berserk and start chopping you two to pieces,for gods sake,calm down.”My words seemed to get through to them both,but I could see they were both pretty shook up. 

An hour later the wound on Haruto’s arm had totally disappeared the mask of blue marks had faded from his face and my two friends were looking a bit calmer.”So I think we all need to get something to eat,and we damned sure need to decide what we’re going to do about the nasty visitors we have buzzing around outside.” Sakura and Ryo both nodded in agreement.”I think the house is pretty secure,we should have enough food for at least a week,it’s a good thing I went shopping yesterday and stocked up.” I nodded Haruto was usually the one taking care of the shopping because he usually got off before I did. Ryo and Sakura still looked a bit uncomfortable but at least they weren’t in a state of panic anymore.”Right well if we want to deal with those bugs maybe we need to go down to my sanctum and we can see about coming up with a plan to get rid of those bastards.”

Sakura came down with me and Ryo said he would stay with Haruto till we came back up,I thanked him and headed down stairs to start looking through my books to find something that could help us deal with the bugs. We both sat down and started paging through old books that Haruto’s uncle Kenji had laboriously collected over his lifetime,about an hour later Sakura poked my arm.”This looks promising,it’s an alchemical creation called a demon wind bag, I think there’s enough ingredients here to make one,we just need some sort of cloth bag of some kind to make it.”I grinned and ran up the rickety ladder to where I kept my knitting supplies,grabbing the bag I kept my yarn in I upended it and dumped the yarn balls out on my worktable. I scrambled back down the ladder and handed Sakura the cloth bag,she smiled and we got to work on our pest control concocting.

Two hours later I could smell a pleasant odor wafting down to us from upstairs. Haruto and Ryo were both in the kitchen cooking when Sakura and I finally finished the demon wind bag that could be used to suck up the pests we had buzzing around outside.The thing didn’t look like much, but if it worked like the book said it would, our outdoor pest problems were solved.”Umm that smells delicious,what’s for dinner?” Haruto leaned over the counter and smiled.”Ryo and I decided to make seven stars ramen,come on grab your bowl while it’s still hot.” The four of us sat together at the kitchen table and ate,I could still sense a bit of uneasiness coming off my friends but the true panic they had been experiencing seemed to have receded for the time being.”So how do we want to deal with those damned wasps out there?”

Ryo and Sakura both looked at each other.”Well between the demon wind bag and the katana over there on the coffee table, I don’t think there’s going to be to many problems dealing with those pests.” I grinned at Sakura.”Okay, I think that sounds about right, why don’t we get some rest and attack those wasps in the morning,it’s sure as hell been a busy day and I’m tired.”Ryo nodded and stood up. “So wheres the bedroom where we can crash?I’m pretty tired myself.” I showed them the guest room and followed Haruto into our room.”How you feeling babe?” I looked over and Haruto was grinning at me.”My shoulders and feet are killing me,spent most of my day running around after a nutcase and my feet hurt from all that walking,I don’t know why my shoulders are hurting,but I feel like a mess.” Haruto started to laugh softly,I stared at him until I caught on to what he was laughing at,coming from the other room I overheard rather loud moaning,it went up and down the scale until Sakura let out a scream of unbridled bliss.I covered my head with the pillow and started laughing to.

Ten minutes later the two of them over there were at it again, I pulled the pillow off of my head and glanced over at my husband he was turning a gentle shade of red.Listening to those two having wild sex soon had him nudging me,I opened an eye and could see the erection he was now sporting popping up under the covers,I giggled and softly poked him.”You’re as bad as they are.” He pulled me to him and kissed me,I could feel his hard erection poking me and reached out to softly start stroking him.He moaned and I could feel his breath on my neck as his lips came in to begin laying warm wet kisses down to my breasts. He got to my nipples and began licking and sucking them till I was thrashing,he drove me crazy when he did that and he knew it, I felt him move then I felt him at the entrance to heaven,I moaned as he slid in,I was so wet already his first touch sent a jolt through my body,he started slow but kept picking up the pace,until I literally screamed when he drove me over the edge into orgasm.

It felt like my brain exploded, he shuddered a second later and the heat of him surged into me,I moaned it felt so good our sex life had been taking a back seat lately from work and stress,but it felt like tonight Haruto was making it up to me,when we finally parted I heard Ryo’s voice mumble something about keep it down over there. Haruto and I burst out laughing,and drifted into each others arms.”Hey you two are worse,you started it!” I stared at my husband mouth hanging open at what he’d just said then heard Sakura laugh.”Men sure can make us crazy huh Honoka?” My embarrassment crept up my face,I started to stammer something when Haruto said.”Nah you women are just loud during sex.” My jaw hit the floor,we were talking about sex to other people in our house in the middle of the night,and they were talking back,shocked by that I rolled over and closed my eyes hoping it was all just a dream I was having.

His arm came over and pulled me in closer to him with a gentle pressure,I felt him softly caress my cheek and knew strangely however crazy it might get he loved me more then anyone could ever say.”Love you babe,sorry about all the weird stuff today, forgive me ok?” I breathed a sigh and whispered back.”Love you hun,let’s get some sleep before those two decided to start in again.” I heard him cover a laugh and we drifted off to sleep. The next morning I got up when a knock came on our door.”Breakfast is ready sleepyheads.” I smiled at Sakura’s voice and poked Haruto till he opened his eyes.”Sakura says she made breakfast,let’s head down and eat.” He grumbled and turned over I almost died when he grabbed me and pulled me back into bed.

”What’s up with you this morning?” Then I felt what was up with him that morning poking me in the thigh.”Really! Again this morning?” He nodded and we made love again, after that we just sort of drifted downstairs and got two grinning looks from our guests.”Man you two must go at it like rabbits, when no one else is around.” Was the comment came out of Sakura’s big mouth.I stared at her.”Nah I heard human guys like it way more then that,you two trying for a record or something?” Ryo spouted causing my face to turn crimson as he finished.Total amazement dropped my jaw to the floor when my husband told them both.”My wife makes me crazy,what can I say,shes a wild woman in bed,it’s a mans job to tame her.” The utter shock of the sex talk going on at my breakfast table made me retreat to the bathroom, to cool down. A knock came on the door and I cracked it to see Sakura standing there.”Girl you know were only teasing,you aren’t crazy,just in love right?” I opened the door a little wider and nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> Listening to : https://open.spotify.com/track/3x32B5N5uXD19LMICppOfw?si=C59OA2ALQsyePEU-FRlXiA


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